Bake Out
by Ultimate Rising Phoenix
Summary: Spyro Always loved baking. Be a baker was always his greatest dream, much to dismay of his father. One day, appears a great chance of learning into a very renowned school, with some of the best bakers. For some, is a great opportunity. For Spyro, is simply all that he dreamed since he could remember. The road is going to be long and hard, but Spyro will not give up for anything!
1. Spyro, the Baker

The day was passing in the city of Warfang. This city, which in ancient times was a military city, now, with the times of war long having passed, was a peaceful place, where everybody could live their lives calmly and relax as they did their own affairs.

Creatures of all kinds moved to and fro in the streets. Dragons, with their massive forms, took up a good space of the streets. After all, Warfang was originally a city build by dragons for dragons. But there were other creatures into the city. There were the cheetahs, there were bunnies, moving back and forth. There were also moles and some wolves in there, as well as fauns, centaurs, and other creatures that came from all over the land.

Warfang had grew into all these years of peace, and now it was a place where all kinds of creatures lived. It was a good place to live, and there were a lot inhabitants in it. All of them different from each other, but all of them with a lot of things in common, like the fact that they all had their own dreams and ambitions, and they all wanted to find the true happiness by searching for it.

As a result, different creatures usually choose the same professions, despite all their differences. Cheetahs and moles could work in the same profession as wolves and bunnies, and even dragons choose common professions for themselves. In ancient years, dragons would choose professions which were turned to ones of leadership and war, however, the times had passed and changed, as well as the world. Now dragons choose different professions, from workers in construction to professors and caretakers. Some dragons choose professions that were according to their personalities and to what they admired and wanted to their future. After all, everyone had dreams, and everyone was ready to go after them and to make them come true.

Including the protagonist of this story. Yeah, this is all about him, as well as the ones he met along the way...

* * *

Into a street from Warfang, into a very well located place, there was a big place. It was a bakery. The front of the store was decorated with the colors of red and golden, and upward there was written the name "Frosted Dream". This place was rather famous. Well, maybe not the most famous place of the city, but it was really famous in what said about bakeries, and was famous enough to have a lot of regular customers and also to have a lot of cash as income.

Inside the store, there were several glasses, stands and shelves, all filled with all kinds of sweets. There were cakes, cupcakes, small snacks, some cheesecakes, and several other small sinful pleasures that would make anyone drool at the sight. There was also several creatures in there, all of them buying the sweets that were all made in there.

This place had some amazing sweets, that was for sure. People talked a lot about them and didn't hesitated to spent a lot of money to have some of these sweets. Both the ones that were in show into the stands as well as the ones that could be ordered to be made.

Many attributed it to the owner of the place, who had the fame of being one very talented baker. Speaking of him...

"Three more Strawberry Dreams, four Cheetah's Eye cupcakes and another round of Sugary Flowers!" Said a figure as he entered into the kitchen of his bakery. This one was a dragon, and he was a big one. He was slightly bulky, and he had crimson colored scales, and golden underbelly and horns, as well as his wing-membranes. The tip of his tail was shaped like a flame, and he was wearing a white colored apron over his neck, which traveled down his chest and was tied over his underbelly by strings on his back, right behind his wings. This dragon was no other than Apollonir Fireheart, the owner of that bakery, and maybe the most famous baker of the whole city, and, according to some, the best of them.

He looked over at all the ones into his bakery, most of them cheetahs and bunnies, and also some moles, all of them working hard to prepare all the requests that they had received, all of them wearing the same white aprons as their boss and all of them working hard under his watchful eye.

Apollonir passed by the bakers under his command, one by one, to see if they were doing everything right, and ready to lead them a helping hand and a small nudge in the right direction if they done anything wrong. Luckily, all of them seemed to be making their work nicely, all of them working very well in mixing all of the ingredients and being very careful. Luckily, all of them already worked for him enough to know most of the recipes and to be able to prepare them from memory.

Apollonir smiled to himself as he saw all of his employers making a good work preparing all the new orders. The Strawberry Dream, which was one big cake made out mostly of strawberry cream and pastry, and decorated with whipped cream and also a lot of pinkish strawberries, one sweeter variety called "White Princess". The Cheetah's Eye cupcakes were a special cupcake prepared with caramel and some special berries, decorated to look like the same colors of the eyes of a cheetah, these ones were also in deep demand. Finally, there were the Sugary Flowers, maybe one of their most famous sweets, which consisted into some beautiful cockie-like sweets made out of caramilized sugar and baker-pastry decorated with edible ink, all made into the shape of beautiful flowers, all of them with different colors and tastes, and all of them equally delicious.

Apollonir saw all of the bakers preparing the dishes, whipping the pastry to make the cakes, working into the sugar to caramelize it, and separating all of the ingredients to get all of the dishes ready. He smiled to himself as he saw each one doing it sucessfuly, seeing that this time that they passed working with him had helped to hone their skills. Especially of one in particular...

There were also some dragons working into the bakery, but not very much. There were two red dragons, a green one, a white one and a icy-blue one. All of them working into the recipes that they had just been passed. There was one more, though, one that really stood out among the other dragons. This one was purple in color. He had a slightly toned physique, which was fitting considering that he was around his 19 years old. He had regal-purple scales and a golden underbelly and horns, much like Apollonir himself, and he had red for his wing-membrane.

He was now baking out the pastry for the Sugary Flowers, and was making a very good work as it was clear that he was putting dedication into it. Thep urple dragon was balancing into his hind legs, using his tail to support himself, as he used his forepaws to hold the ingredients and to prepare them according to the recipe. His apron was slightly tainted by the ingredients of the baking.

The dragon was putting a good effort into making it, maybe more than the other dragons. It was clear by the smile on his face, that he was happy for doing it. He seemed to really like making his job, and anyone that was near him could notice it. Not only by the look on his face, but with all of the happiness that he was putting into what he was doing, and all of the dedication that he was putting into the work he was doing right now.

Apollonir, of course, noticed it fairly easily, as he could see how happy the young dragon was for making all these things. His happiness in it was so great that it was almost contagious, the way he smiled and the passion that he seemed to show into baking, it was something really beautiful that gave pleasure to see.

Soon, Spyro was done of the first set of Cheetah's Eyes and he was already carrying them slightly into the air. Flapping his wings, the purple dragon was creating a gust of wind that was keeping the cupcakes in the air, as the young dragon took a deep breath and breathed flames underneath them, heating them.

All the dragons had their own elemental powers, which was usually indicated by their colors. Apollonir, for instance, was a fire dragon, which was good, for his fire element was very useful when it came to cooking. Each element was helpful with certain matters, which were, in some cases, useful to the work a dragon would choose. That was another thing that Spyro had of special.

The purple dragons were very rare, and they were special, because, while one dragon could only hold one single element, the purple dragons could hold several. Some said that they even had all of them.

That was how Spyro was able to do it, for he was holding both the wind and the fire. Not only that, but Spyro also could held other elements, like earth and ice, and also electricity. Each element had their own utility, and in that work, Spyro used a little one her and a little one there. This variety of abilities made Spyro a very verstile worker, and helped him be one of his best employers.

After a few minutes of high temperature fire, Spyro finally let the cupcakes come down, and he made the wind fly around them, cooling them down rather quickly, until all that was left was a warm temperature, which was perfect for eating.

The purple dragon smiled to himself as he looked at the round of cupcakes that was ready. He barely even notice someone behind him, until he spoke. "Another round?"

Spyro craned his head back, to see Apollonir looking at him. Spyro smiled at the older dragon, who sniffed at the cupcakes. "May I?" He asked, putting a paw halfway in direction to the cupcakes.

"Sure! Be my guest!" Spyro said, giving a wamr smile at the older dragon. Apollonir smiled back, and he picked up one of the cupcakes and he gave it a bite. He chewed them lightly as he let the flavor spread to his mouth and all over his tongue. As he chewed, Spyro looked up at him, expectation clear in his eyes as he looked at the older dragon.

There was a moment of silence, until Apollonir swallowed, and he smiled at the young dragon. "Very well done, Spyro, it is delicious."

By hearing this, the purple dragon's face brightened a lot, and he had to control himself not to dance in place. Sure, Apollonir had already complimented his cooking skills a few times by now, however, it was hard not to get so happy each time that someone who understood so much of bakery complimenting his work.

"Good to see you are still improving more each day." Said Apollonir, and Spyro answered with a "All thanks to you, sir."

Apollonir chuckled. Spyro had been with him for almost six months now, and it was not only working as a baker. Spyro was also his apprentice. Apollonir could still remember when Spyro appeared in there a long time ago. He was a curious dragon who would keep a while looking at the sweets.

At first it would seem that he was only interested in eating them, however, one day, he caught Spyro trying to sneak into the kitchen. After a while of an awkward situation, Spyro confessed that he wanted to see the sweets being made. The dragon confessed him that he wanted to learn more of how to make sweets, with a vivid blush on his face.

Looking at the young dragon, Apollonir asked him if he knew how to bake, and Spyro meekly said that he tried the best he could. After hearing this, Apollonir surprised Spyro by saying that he wanted him to bake something.

Spyro was taken back by this, and he hesitantly nodded, even though he didn't had any idea of what he should bake for the master baker. Spyro had decided by one recipe that he was pretty confident with. One that he had learned in an old book, and that he had practiced for a while.

It was a simply recipe of homemade cookies, and he was sure that it was nothing special for the older dragon. Spyro was visibly nervous as he got ready to work, but it seemed to dissapear once he was cooking the recipe. Apollonir looked at him as he prepared everything, and once he was done, he offered it to the red dragon.

Once Apollonir was ready to taste, it seemed that all the nervousness of Spyro had came back to him in triple. Apollonir simply took the cookies and tasted one of them, under the worried look of Spyro, who looked almost dread.

Apollonir tasted the cookies, and, as the same time that they were not exactly the best he had ever eaten, they were far better than what he could have possibly expect from such a simple recipe, nor of anyone who never had any baking lesons before in life, as Spyro himself had said to him.

According to the purple dragon, he had learned this recipe, along with a few others, from some old recipe books, and that he had "tried" a little in them, adding new ingredients. He said it took a while for him to get it right, and his face cringed as he remembered the taste of the recipes that he had to try in himself.

Needless to say, Apollonir was very impressed. This young dragon had really learned to do something so good out of pure attempt and fail? That was somewhat impressive. Also, Apollonir liked very much the way that the young dragon seemed to enjoy making the cookies, as if he was truly happy with it. Indeed, this young dragon had all the qualities that were attributed to very skilled bakers.

Apollonir had saw a lot of potential into that young dragon, and that was exactly the reason why he had invited Spyro to work into the bakery as an apprentice. He could still remember when he said that to the purple dragon, and he chuckled everytime that he thought back at the stupefied, unbelieving and astonished look in it.

The next thing he knew was that Spyro was saying yes a lot of times, hugging him tightly, and after that, Spyro started to work for him, and to learn with him at the same time, as his pupil.

Spyro showed to be eager to learn, and while he was still being a bit inexperienced with the swing of the commercial aspect of baking, he was showing to be a very versatile and fast learner. He quickly learned a few tricks from Apollonir of how to use his elements to help in the cooking, and also, some tips of the other dragons working in there, as well as some non-elemental, but very important tips coming from the other employers. Soon Spyro was proving to have a very promising future into what was related to baking, and what was more important: he seemed to simply love it.

Apollonir smiled at his young student, and petted his head lightly, making the purple dragon blush a little. Soon the orders had to be taken, but that didn't meant that the work was done. They had to constantly keep working to keep up with all of the demands. That was the price of being sucessful.

The day passed, and the sun was almost setting when it was time to close for the day. "Okay lads and girls!" Said Apollonir, looking at all of his workers. "We made a good job today, everybody go home and sleep well, we will have another round of it in the morning!"

The employers all sighed as they had finished cleaning the whole place and putting everything where it should be, and they all started to head back home. Some glad that the day had ended, and others talking about the day. All of them still anxious for their next paycheck. The advantage into working in a place that was so big and so famous was that the payment was worth all of the hard work that they were forced to do every single day. Besides, most of them liked working with bakery.

Apollonir was looking at all of his workers start to head back to their homes, all of them ready to rest after a long day of work. However, there was someone else that was not happy for having to go.

This one was a purple dragon. He was into a corner of the kitchen, looking down sadly, as he was sighing deeply. Apollonir looked at him, adn approached him softly. "Spyro?" The purple dragon looked up at him, and Apollonir said, "Time to go home."

The purple dragon sighed, and he started walking out. He helped Apollonir to close and lock the bakery, to be sure that no one was going to sneak inside during the night, it was surprisingly how many had already done it, if not for the money, then only to be able to sneakily get one of the sweets. Not only that, but there were also some other bakers, from rival places, that were trying to get their claws into Apollonir's recipes, which were a well kept secret. "Always keep your personal recipes safe", was one of the first lessons that Apollonir ever taught to Spyro, in this ambient, there were a lot of bad behaved dragons who were envious and would do anythign to get their claws in the recipes of their rivals and use them to gain money at the same time that they got the rival out of the game. That was a lesson that Spyro was going to have to remember if he ever wanted to take a career at baking.

After they were sure the place was safe, Spyro finally turned to leave, and he smiled at the older dragon when he said, "I'll be back tomorrow." Apollonir was able to smile at this, and he waved a bye to the purple dragon as he walked away and flapped his golden and red wings, taking flight and floating away.

Apollonir looked at the vanishing dragon as he was going away, and he let out a sigh. Anyone who saw Spyro like that would assume that he was sad because the day of work was over and he could not back anymore. However, Apollonir knew pretty well the true reason why Spyro would be sad for going back home.

As Apollonir turned and flapped his own wings to go back home, the thought on his head was that he just hoped that these two would come to terms...

* * *

Spyro flew across the city, and he soon was getting near home, and he landed gently in front of the two store-high house that he called home. Reaching out in the bag he had around his neck, he reached out for the key and unlocked the door, walking inside his house.

"I'm home!" He called out, entering the hall and soon getting into the living room, well furnished, and it was a pleasing place.

Soon, Spyro was greeted by another dragoness. This one purple just like him, and clearly very older. She was dark-purple in color and had white underbelly and her eyes were silvery in color. She had white flecks into her wings, all of which sparkled in them, almost as if they were stars.

She smiled at him, as she said, "Hello, sweetheart, how was work today?" She asked, nuzzling him, and Spyro smiled as he nuzzled the purple dragoness back. "You know, mom, hard and hot, that kitchen is always moving."

The purple dragoness smiled at her son, and she said, "I'll have dinner ready in fifteen minutes, hope you don't mind waiting. Oh, and I hope you have not eaten much of these sweets at your work, you know that it robs your appetite."

"Mom!" Spyro said, blushing slightly at his mom talking to him as if he was still eight years old. Maybe it was one thing of the mothers. Spyro sometimes thought that he was never going to stop being her little hatchling.

He sighed as he walked to the living room, aiming to just take this time to relax. However, his hopes for this were cut short when he hear da familiar voice saying, "So, back from another day making candy, huh?"

Spyro had to supress a groan as he closed his eyes, and he looked over to see another dragon who was already in the living room, reading a book as he stood there, unnoticed by Spyro until he had spoke.

This dragon was bigger than Spyro, and also bigger than Apollonir. He was black in all of his body, except for his underbelly, which was as white as bone, and his horns, which were the smae pure white in color. His wings were big, and a careful looked would see that they were full of holes and small tears, as if they had been showered with a rain of spikes over the years. His tailblade was shaped like a mean scythe, one that looked that could probably cut out the leg of a dragon easily. In his face, he wore a mask, which for many, looked much more like a skull from some dragon which covered his face. His eyes were visible through the holes of the mask, and they were both crimson as blood and focused into the book that he was reading, held by his forepaws.

This dragon was a gaunt visage, and he was not the kind that anyone would want to see in a dark alley, and many would be scared by seeing this dragon in front of them. Spyro, however, knew this dragon quite well already, and he didn't had many reasons to be afraid of him. Well, at least not anymore.

"Goodnight, father." Spyro spoke to the black dragon, his father, in a very formal, almost cold tone, as he sat by the other side of the room, not even casting him a second glance as he sighed and simply laid there, hoping that this would at least be calm.

However, his hopes were frustrated as the older dragon said, "Don't you get sick of the smell of sugar all the time?"

Spyro looked at the black dragon, holding back a nasty remark, as he managed to simply say, "I'm used to it. Besides, it is a job, like any other."

The black dragon let out a scowl, not making any effort to hide it. "Yeah, what a job."

Spyro had to hold back the grumble coming form the deep of his throat as he turned his attention to somewhere else, be it the paintings in the walls or even the ceiling, anything that would keep him distracted from the black dragon sitting a few meters away from him. It was just fifteen minutes. He just needed to keep control and then handle the dinner and he could go to his room and avoid another fight. He just needed to say nothing.

However, the balck dragon didn't seemed to share his opinion, and he said, "For how long you still plan to work in there?" He was asking it as if it was casual. "I know that the cash is pretty good, but it is already time for you to find a more suitable job, don't you think?"

Spyro dug his claws into the wooden floor, gritting his teeth, as he was able to say back, "We already had this talk a few times by now, didn't we?" There was a lot of contained anger at his answer, but he was not going to bite, he was not going to let it happpen yet another scene.

"Yeah, indeed, we did." The black dragon said, most of his features still hidden behind that mask of bone. "Still, you are into that same job. What do you think that means?" He looked at Spyro as he asked this, Spyro, however, didn't looked at his face. Instead, the purple dragon only let out a sigh.

"Maybe it means that I have found a direction for me in my life." The purple dragon said to the older dragon, who snorted at him.

"Well, you could at least tried to find a better direction than this." The black dragon said almost coldly at him, "It is not too late yet, you know?"

Spyro didn't even dignited himself to answer to that. He knew that if this went on for too much time they would eventually start to have another fight, just like last night. Why dinner was taking so long?

Spyro still tried to remain into silence, and the black dragon seemed to finally attend to it, but not before he said, "I just wish this 'candy maker phase' of yours end soon and you get over it."

Spyro dug his claws into the floor as he wanted to shout out a very nasty answer at the black dragon. However, he was happy for finally being left alone and in silence. At least it didn't ended in yelling like last time. Spyro was happy with it.

The rest of the time was spend into a deep silence, which was broken only by the sound of the breathing of the two dragons and the sound of the pages of the book flipping. Spyro was thankful when the sound was broke by the sound of his mother's voice.

"Exedra, Spyro, dinner is ready!" She called from the kitchen, and Spyro got up, as well as Exedra, the black dragon, and both started to head to the kitchen, none of them saying a word.

The dinner was rather uneventful, as they all ate silently their roasted sheep. The tension was still evident into the room, as Spyro and his father still were not talking with each other since the beginning of it. The purple dragoness, who was Spyro's mother, decided to break it.

"So, How was your work today, Spyro?" She asked to her son, and the purple dragon was actually able to smile.

"Very nice. Lots of clients and lots of things to do." The purple dragon said to his mother "Appolonir says I'm getting better and better into baking. I can already make all of his recipes from my memory."

Spyro was happy for seeing his mother smile at his sucess, a true smile, not the mocking kind that his father usually gave him. It was good that at least one of his parents didn't seemed to dissaprove what he had chosen to do of his life.

At the table, the black dragon humbled softly as he kept eating, and Spyro shot him an angry glare, as well as his mother. "Exedra." She said, and the black dragon said, "Honestly, Galaxia, I don't think that is good to encourage this."

It was taking too long. Spyro just knew that it was taking too long until it started.

"Exedra!" Galaxia, Spyro's mother, said to her husband, but the black dragon simply shrugged and went back to eating silently, as if nothing had happened.

Spyro was glad that it at leas didn't developed. Still, he was not willing to take a risk, he finished his food quickly and wished good night for his family and he went upstairs, but he still could hear his parents' voices.

"Exedra, why you act like that?"

"Galaxia, I really think that this kind of behavior is not to be encouraged."

"What is wrong with what he does? It is a profession, just like any other!"

"Excuse me if I can't see making candy all day as a profession."

Spyro stopped halfway to his room in the second floor as he heard it. It took all his will power to not go back in there and scream in his father's face all that he thought. Instead, he only kept there as he still listened to what they were saying.

"This kind of 'profession' is not fit for a dragon like him." Exedra's voice said, "He should search for a more suitable job, like joining the guard or maybe entering to the special forces. Now _that_ would be a real profession."

"I don't see any problem in doing what he likes to do." Said Galaxia, her tone letting it clear that she dissaproved what her husband was saying. "He likes to do it and it gives him money, and it make him happy. I really fail to see where the problem is."

"The problem is that a dragon like him should not attain himself to this kind of job, and I also think that Spyro knows it. You will see, this is all just a phase. At some point he will lose interest in it and he will search for a real job. We all will leave this all behind and move on with our lives."

Spyro clenched his teeth as he had already heard enough. He went fast to his room, leaving his parents behind to continue their talk, as he closed the door behind himself.

His rom was big and nice, as fitting for a dragon who was almost full grow by now. His room was nicely decorated, with a few shelves in walls to keep books, a chest in the corner to keep his personal stuff, and also a big bed with purple mantresses. Spyro barely gave anything else in there attention, he simply dropped his bag in the ground and threw himself in bed, making it creak under his weight as he laid in there, breathing deeply.

Why?

That was all that Spyro could ask.

Why?

Why his own father had so much trouble with Spyro doing what he wanted to do of his life, instead of following _his_ ideas?

Well, maybe it was because Spyro was a dragon, and the profession of a baker was not exactly fitting in the ideas of what his father thought of a profession that ws fitting for a dragon. Maybe it was enforced by the fact of Spyro being a purple dragon, a very rare breed, and this made him somewhat even better than a regular dragon (even though Spyro himself never thought of himself this way), and he should search for something that was better than baking.

Of course, he always insisted for Spyro to find a profession that was "fitting for him", like being a member of the dragon guard, making part of their armies, or maybe joining the Special Forces, a group of dragon who did important jobs, like exploring unknown areas, hunting down dangerous criminals and rescuing people in danger. More than once Spyro even heard him saying that Spyro could maybe even join the Guardians.

However, Spyro didn't wanted any of that. Since little he had loved baking, and it was more than a childish passion for candy and all the thing of it. It was a true passion that he had, and it was the way it made him feel. He truly loved backing, and it was something that he truly wanted to do.

His mother always thought it to be cute, and always gave him the support, but his father never approved. He didn't liked his son spending so much time thinking about candy and wanting to be near bakers and the like. Spyro still remembered when he said that he was going to work into the bakery and learn to bake with Appolonir Fireheart. His mother was really happy for him, his father, however, even with that skull mask that he always wore all the time, Spyro could easily make out see each freckle of the frown that he had. He remembered that he and his father barely talked right to each other after that day, and their talks were most about Exedra trying to convince Spyro to drop this job and search for another one. Of course, the purple dragon barely even listened to him.

His father could call it a phase and always say that he would overgrow it, but Spyro knew that he was not going to overgrow it ever. It was something that he really loved, and it was a thing that he truly wanted to do. His father seemed to refuse to see it, for he didn't wanted Spyro to have a profession that didn't fit his own views of a profession fit for a dragon.

Spyro could hardly even care. He sighed as he picked up a book from one of the shelves, and he started to read it, to take his mind away from the subject. After all, he knew that, if he thought about it for too long he would have a lot of trouble to focus and to sleep later on. He rather distract himself and let his father think whatever the heck he wanted. After all, he was owner of his own thoughts, but he was never going to be the owner of Spyro's.

The purple dragon already knew what he wanted, and not even his own father was going to make him give up on it. He was going to go to the end, and he was going to keep getting better, until he could be as good a Appolonir. Spyro could still dream, and he knew that it might take a long while before he could say that he had reached the famous baker.

Spyro was still having a lot to learn, but he wanted to learn, actually, he was anxious to it, and he would be more than happy to learn all that he could to someday be a baker too. He didn't indeed what his father was going to say about it, all he cared was that he was going to follow his dream.

With a smile, Spyro knew that, despite anything that went on his way, he was going to keep baking, and that he was going to keep searching for what he wanted for his own future.


	2. A Brighter Day

The sun was rising at the start of another day in the city of Warfang, and everyone was soon waking up, some with the sun, some a little later, depending on the person. Some were already up, and some were actually just going to sleep, tucking in for the day just like the stars and the moon did when the night was over. Being nocturnal had it quirks.

The point was, with the raising of the sun, the city was also raising once again, and everyone was starting to get up and get ready for another day at the dragon city. Including a certain purple dragon who we all already know.

Spyro was snoring softly in his bed when the first rays of day perked by his window and traveled by the ground until they hit his eyes. This made the purple dragon groan a bit, and use his paw to shield them as he slowly got up.

Spyro yawned wide, showing his big and flashy white teeth to the world, and he looked around his room. Just the same as last night. Spyro got up from the bed and stretched his body, and he already started to move his way, for he had things to do.

First of all, he made sure to put his bed in order, and as soon as it was done, he turned his attention to the door, and he got out of his room.

Spyro could hear his mother downstairs, and he just hoped that his dad was with her, however, his hopes were soon frustrated when he almost bumped on him on his way to the bathroom.

The black dragon, Exedra, was just drying himself up after his morning bath, and he looked at the purple dragon for a moment as they made a staring contest, with very much the same level of humor that they both had gone to sleep in the previous night.

"Good morning, father." Spyro said, almost coldly, and Exedra simply nodded, saying, "Good morning, Spyro." And he simply walked pass him, not bothering to say anything else, and Spyro was grateful for that. He didn't thought that he would handle another arguing with his father at such a early moment of the morning. He just wanted to finish what he had to do and go on his way without yelling and arguing.

Soon, Spyro was inside the bathroom, and he wasted no time in filling the miniature pool that they had with clean and fresh water, and diving inside, using it to clean his body from any taint and smell that he had gotten on him during the night. As soon as he was done, he jumped out of the pool and let the water slide away by the drain, as he picked up a urple towel and started to dry himself.

As soon as he was done, Spyro got out of the bathroom, and he knew what would come next. Breakfast with his family. Spyro dreaded that moment, as much as he dreaded coming back home after work since he started in the bakery, for it meant that he would have to spent a while with his dad, who totally disapproved the direction he had chosen for his life and was no afraid of saying it in Spyro's face.

He lost count of how many times he had insisted to his mom that he could eat in the way to the work, he even asked her to pack his breakfast so he could eat on the way, but she said that he needed to eat with them, so he and his father would have a chance to talk.

She seemed not to have yet understood that, since a while now, every time that Spyro and Exedra tried to talk to each other, it usually ended up in screaming and hurt feelings. So, Spyro was still forced to sit with him on the breakfast table and to eat with him, usually very silently as he prayed that it would end soon and that he would be able to get out of there as soon as possible.

Soon, as if a condemned walking to his execution, Spyro walked downstairs and to the kitchen, where both his mother and his father were already waiting for him. Galaxia smiled when she saw Spyro, and she quickly offered him a place to stay in the edge of the table.

The good news, it was far from his father, so he would have less chance to talk to him. The bad news, in that place Spyro was practically face to face with Exedra, once they both could look directly at each other, so Spyro would have to bear these eyes over him while he ate, what would actually not be that bad, if it wasn't for the clear reprobation that Spyro could see in them every time that he and his father traded looks.

Well, there was no way of avoiding it, so Spyro could at least end this quickly, and so, he sat on the table and he started to eat the roasted sheep that his mother offered to him, making sure to avoid looking at his father, who ate calmly at his own food.

Five minutes of silence, only broken by the sound of the dragons eating, when Galaxia finally tried to get them to talk to each other. "So, Spyro, I bet that things in work are being good."

"Yeah, they are, mom." Spyro said without raising his head, and he continued to say, "Apollonir says that I'm getting better and better, and that I have a lot of potential. We might work a lot today, there are a lot of requests that need to be finished and delivered."

"So, you will spend more time making candy." Exedra chimed in and Spyro had to bite back a very nasty answer. There was no way that he was going to fall for that one again. He was just going to finish eating and he was going to get out of that house as soon as he could before any fight could happen.

However, his father seemed to be quite wanting it to happen, for he continued. "You know, this thing of 'I wanna be a candy maker' was cute when you were a little hatchling, but you should have stopped with it by now."

Spyro dug his claws slightly in the ground as he was forced to hear this kind of thing right in the morning.

"Exedra!" Galaxia said, knowing full well that this was probably going to lead to another arguing if she did not interfered, but it was maybe already too late.

"Sorry if I'm not just a mindless dummy that dance as you play the music, Exedra." Spyro said, calling his father by the name and looking at him with ferocity in the eyes. Exedra snarled and showed his teeth slightly.

"You should wash your mouth to talk to me, young man."

"I will when you stop criticizing everything I do." Spyro said in a clear tone of defiance, and he walked away from the table, leaving his sheep only half eaten.

"Spyro!" Galaxia called, and Exedra said angrily "And where do you think you are going!?"

"To work!" He said, as he kept walking in direction to the door. "Don't you give me your back!" He heard his father say, and all he said was: "I'll be back late tonight. Lots of work, don't wait for me."

That was a lie. Spyro didn't had so much work that he would not come home. The truth was that he didn't wanted to come back home when his work was done. He knew that after this morning another meeting with his father would end up in yelling and maybe some name-calling, and Spyro was not in the mood to face it today.

"But… your breakfast…" Galaxia said to her son, feeling desperate as it seemed that another one of her attempts to make father and son have a nice talk and reconciliation was crumbling down like a house of cards.

"I lost my appetite." Was all that Spyro said as he didn't even turned around to say goodbye as he picked up his bag and the keys and he walked out home. The last thing he heard before closing the door behind himself was his father's mad voice saying: "This talk is not over yet, Mister!"

Oh, but it was. It was over and maybe for good. Spyro knew that he would not be able to live home for much more time if things keep on like that. Living with his father was starting to become unbearable. Spyro still did not understood why that stupid old lizard could not simply accept that Spyro had his own dreams on his life.

As Spyro flapped his wings and took flight, he felt the house he lived in being slowly left behind of himself, as he soared through the skies in direction to what truly made him feel calm and happy.

Spyro smiled to himself as he could see the bakery Frosted Dream, and the purple dragon landed safely in front of it as he walked inside, smiling to himself as he entered in the place, which already had some people in there, even being early in the morning, as Spyro was already moving to the kitchen to the place where he would be working.

"I'm late, sorry!" He said as he entered the kitchen, and he was first greeted by Apollonir himself, who smiled, and said, "Glad you arrived, we have a lot of work today."

Spyro smiled by hearing this, for this meant a lot of things to keep his mind busy and avoid thinking of his father. Now he was where he belonged, and he felt like he could be in there forever. Spyro loved baking, be it bread, sweets or anything else, he just loved working with it and being complimented by it, and he just loved to make a good work in there and being at the place that he just loved to be.

Spyro wasted no time in putting on his white apron and getting himself busy with the work. The first order was a round of Cheetah's Eyes, and Spyro was more than glad to do it. He loved all of the recipes that they made in there, and he already was able to make them all from memory, as well as everybody in there. Spyro was a very skilled baker, and it was easy to notice as the purple dragon put himself to work without wasting any time.

Soon he was preparing the pastry that would be the body of the cupcakes, and making them be inside their little recipients. And for the next minutes, Spyro combined his hand/paw work with his elemental abilities to make the cupcakes, not only making them efficiently, but also granting a very good show to whoever wanted to watch. It was amazing to see the purple dragon combine his elemental powers with a very swift hand/paw to work with the sweets and get them done at an amazing speed and ability. Even because anyone could tell that the purple dragon really loved what he did, and that reflected clearly on his work and on the way he did the things, with a passion so good that it was contagious.

And why Spyro would not be happy? After all, he was doing something that he simply loved, around people who, in general, admired it just as much as him. He could do just the thing that he loved and he would receive approval to it, and he didn't needed to worry about receiving nasty remarks as he worked and did the things he loved.

Yes, indeed, anyone who would look would say, and Spyro would truly agree with them, that the kitchen, the bakery, among all that work, that it was that purple dragon truly belonged.

And that was just perfect for Spyro.

The time passed and Spyro barely even noticed, as he was finishing making some frozen candies to put in a cake, by floating them in the air with his wind powers and freezing them solid with his ice breath, and making them adopt the shapes of perfect ornaments of elements.

It was for a birthday party of a young fire dragon, and so, the cake and the whole decoration of it were fire-based, with designs of flames and other things like that. It was beautiful to look at it, and Spyro made sure that it would be also delicious to anyone who would taste it. Spyro gently landed the last decors in the cake, making sure that they were solid enough to resist to the trip to the house for delivery, and so, Spyro finished by doing some flame element emblems with pastry and putting them as the last touch of the cake, making sure that it was in place and that it was absolutely perfect.

And right in time, for soon after, their delivery workers came to take the cake, and Spyro made sure that they were extra-careful with that cake, once the purple dragon had put a lot of effort in it, and he wanted to be sure that no one would screw it up. After all, that was a common worry of anyone who worked hard; they did everything perfectly and didn't want their work to be ruined because of someone else's mistakes.

As soon as they left, Spyro went to make his next order, a strawberry dream. Spyro soon put himself to work, b y picking up and cutting up the Snow Queen Strawberries and cutting them in smaller portions, and he started to mix it with the pastry and the sugar, and to bake it to make the pastry that would form the cake.

After a while, it was a matter of heating and cooling it down to perfection, and that was another situation in which the elementals powers came handy, for they made it far easier and faster to cook what under normal circumstances would take a while in a regular oven and then in the fresh air. The Strawberry dream was ready in no time, and soon after, Spyro had to prepare the decoration, covering it with pink colored pastry, and decorating it with Snow Queens all over, cut in half, and a few flowers of pastry to put in the cake, each one with a Snow Queen put in the middle of the petals, as the button of the flower, making it look really beautiful.

As soon as Spyro got it ready, the cake was taken to the balcony, to be exposed to who wanted to buy it, just like many of the things that they did, and Spyro knew pretty well that soon he would have to make another, once the Strawberry Dream was one of their most famous works, and they were in high demand from a lot of people in the whole Warfang, who wanted to have a sample of it or a piece of it for a special occasion or only for the pleasure of eating it.

Spyro loved to see this pleasure in other people, and that was one of the reasons why he loved to baking. He loved to see the happiness in other people's eyes and to see the way they felt delighted and happy by eating the sweets, especially if he had prepared them. He loved the feeling that he had somehow helped to bring a smile to their faces and to make their lives a little brighter by simply preparing something for them to eat, it was something that warmed his heart, and that was one of the things he loved the most in his job, the satisfaction that it gave him. That was the main reason why he loved so much being a baker and he loved doing this work, and that was the reason why he was so dedicated to learn the most he could and to be the best baker he could, so he could bring this happiness to people and receive recognizance for this.

But his father didn't understood that.

For him making the world better meant risking your life in dangerous missions in service of the crown or the army, meant fighting dangerous criminals and risking your safety to get them and making sure that they were in jail. Meant fighting in wars a spilling blood for the shake of people who Spyro barely even knew and whose opinion he actually didn't cared so much, only because of glory or another form of gratification.

Exedra just didn't saw that there were other kinds of ways of helping the world be a little better, simply by making something that would bring a smile to people's faces. By making their lives a little happier only for a few moments, and by making something that will make their lives more delicious and that will make them feel happier and good inside.

It was also a way of making the world a little better.

But of course that an old fashioned dragon like Exedra, an retired member of the royal guard, and who for years had served in the army, would not understand something like that. Of course that he didn't understood that only because you didn't risked your life everyday and didn't got your claws dirty with blood, both your own and form someone else, it didn't meant that you were doing nothing that would be useful or good to the world. That only because you were using your elements for something other than fighting it didn't meant that you were wasting potential or using them the wrong way. That only because you was doing something that didn't let you take full advantage of your big size, your developed muscles, you sharp senses and your natural abilities to fight and to do many other things, it didn't meant that you were wasting your potential and doing something useless and that you should search for something better to say so you could do all these things.

Spyro clenched his teeth as he thought of all the worse things about his relationship with his dad. Even being away from him his father still seemed to find a way to just ruin his day and his mood, and that was just the kind of thing that a dragon like him can do.

"Spyro?" The voice snapped Spyro out of his anger, and he turned his head to look at Apollonir, who was looking at him with a worried expression. "Is it something wrong?"

Spyro looked at him, and after a moment, he said, "Its… its nothing…" But he wasn't convincing, nor for Apollonir, nor for himself. After a few moments of silence, Spyro sighed, and he said, "It is my dad."

Apollonir nodded silently as he looked at the ground, he already knew the things that happened between Spyro and his father, Exedra Nightwing, since the day that Spyro had started to work and learn bakery with him. That old dragon surely seemed not to approve that his son was choosing to baker, and why, Apollonir could only wonder about it.

Just why a father would not be happy for a son to be doing what he liked to do and being successful at it? Was it so hard to be a little comprehensible? That kind of behavior completely puzzled Apollonir.

He looked at the purple dragon, who was still looking somewhat down as he seemed to reflect about it, and he even said, "Why it is so hard to him to be on my side? I mean… it would kill him if he just at once said something like 'hey Spyro, you are doing great', or maybe 'I heard you are making progress, I'm proud of you'. Man, I would be happy even if he said simply, 'calm down with the pastry, son'!"

Spyro sighed as he looked away, being clearly upset by this, and Apollonir said, after a few moments of respectful silence, "Spyro, can we go somewhere private? There is something I need to talk to you."

Spyro looked at him for a few moments, and he nodded, and so, both he and Spyro went to Apollonir's office, in another part of the store, and they both entered and locked the door, being left alone.

There were a few moments of silence, and after that Apollonir said, "Spyro, it has been great having you in my bakery." He was sincere when he said it, as he looked at the purple dragon, and he continued "You are one of the most talented young minds I have ever met and you seems to really love baking, more than a lot of other people I ever saw before, and believe, I have already saw many."

Apollonir looked straight at Spyro's eyes when he said it, "Spyro, you are an amazing person, and I like all of that and much more about you. You are such a promising young man, and I can see a great future ahead of you. I'm really proud of you"

Spyro was able to smile at this, and he said, "Thank you. I wish my dad would say something like that." He said, looking at the ground once again, and he continued. "Apollonir, you have gave me support and encouragement ever since I came here in the first time, and you are always being kind to me and seeing things my way."

He grunted, "While Mr. Exedra can only think about criticizing everything I do and telling me that I'm not doing things good enough. Now it is only left for him to say in my face that I'm his biggest disappointment." His tone was very bitter as he said every and each one of these words, and he took a deep breath. "Truth is that… in the last months, you have been much more a father to me than him."

There was a heavy silence as Spyro said that, and the purple dragon continued. "I mean, you act like you care for me and for my future, you give me support in my choices, and you always encourages me to do what I really like doing. And as we are always together, I can't help but feel like we are somehow a family."

"Is because we _are_ a family, Spyro." Apollonir said, looking at the purple dragon in the eyes. "We all in this bakery are like a big family, as we always work together and support each other the best way we can." There was a pause, and the red dragon took a deep breath, and he said, "You know, I never had kids of my own."

Spyro looked up at the red dragon, who looked a bit sad as he said these words, and he continued, "So, I always tried my best to share what I know with everyone who I teach, and they have to come to be my family. I did it for all of them, including you."

He raised his eyes to look at the purple dragon's ones, and he said, "Spyro, you are so promising and you love so much what you do. The truth is that… I see a lot of myself in you, is almost as if I'm looking at younger version of myself… Spyro, you are like the son I never had."

Spyro blushed as he felt flattered by that, and who wouldn't be? And Apollonir continued. "So, after hearing about the problems you were having with Exedra, I thought about it long and hard and, I guess it could happen."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you are legally an adult, and if you decide to accept it, then you could do it without any problem, and Exedra would have legally no saying on the matter, but only if you truly want so, otherwise, I fully understand."

"What do you mean?" Spyro asked the red dragon, not getting what he was trying to say, and then Apollonir looked at Spyro in the eyes, and nothing could prepare the purple dragon for the next words he was going to hear.

"Spyro, I want to adopt you."

Spyro was taken aback by that, and he could only look at Apollonir with wide eyes. He was sure that he had heard it wrong, and that Apollonir couldn't have really meant what he just said. However, a single glance at Apollonir's eyes, at the expression that he had on his face, was enough for Spyro to know that what the really meant every single word that he had just said. And this, of course, turned out to leave Spyro at an even greater loss of words.

For a long moment, Spyro looked at him, and he said a simple: "W-what?"

Apollonir looked at him, and he said, "Spyro, I want to adopt you." The red dragon was looking in the purple dragon's eyes as he said it, wanting to make sure that his intentions were clear and true. "I have thought a lot about it, and I talked to some people about all the implications of it, and it seems that if we want to do it there is no problem at all."

"Spyro, you are legally an adult, what means that you can accept if I'm going to adopt you or not, and if you come to accept, than not even Exedra could have any saying in this. You would come to live with me, of course, and you would be my rightful heir in all the aspects. But it will only happen if you really want."

Apollonir looked at Spyro's eyes one more time, and he sighed, as he said, "Spyro, I know you are unhappy in your home, and don't mistake yourself, I don't want to steal you from your family or anything of the like. I just want what is best for you. I always had." With that said, he looked deeply in Spyro's eyes, and he said to him, "So, Spyro, you want me to adopt you?"

There was another silence, as Spyro simply looked at the red dragon with a dumb-folded expression, and after a while, Apollonir said, "Yeah, I guess it is not the kind of thing you can simply dump at someone. I mean, I'm sure that you don't want to leave your mother and your home like that, form one hour to another, and I guess it would be selfish of me to ask you to take this decision like that, all of sudden. If you wanna take some time to think about it, then-"

"I accept." Spyro said all of sudden, and now it was Apollonir's turn to look at him surprised.

"Huh?"

"I want you to adopt me." Spyro said at the red dragon, who looked back at him. "I can't even live in my house anymore, and Exedra don't understands me, so I want to go with you. I want you to adopt me."

Apollonir looked at Spyro for a few moments, before he said, "Spyro, I know that you are mad with Exedra and all, but I don't want you to accept my offer only because of that."

"It is not." Spyro said vehemently at the red dragon, "You have been more supportive to me than Exedra had been in the past months. You understand my feeling and you want me to be truly happy by doing what I want."

Spyro looked at him as he said it, "You have been more a father to me than he has, and I don't need to do only what you want to please you, and I guess that it would be much better to live with you than with him, the ways thing are going back home. Actually, I have been wanting not to go back in there for a while now."

"OI know that mom will get sad with this, and that I'm gonna miss her, but I just can't live in the same roof as Exedra anymore." Spyro was not even bothering calling Exedra his father anymore. It was true, Spyro had been wanting to leave that house and not come back there, once that every time that he got in there it would have only screaming and fighting and hurt, and Spyro had already got sick of it.

Exedra would only criticize him and make him feel bad for not be doing what the black dragon wanted him to do; he would make Spyro feel like he was doing something wrong and that he was wasting his time by doing what he really wanted to do. Apollonir, on the other hand, wanted only to help him be the best on his own way, he supported Spyro when it came to Spyro doing what he wanted to do, and he was willing to help Spyro to be the best baker he could, and he supported him no matter what would come. Apollonir really felt more to a father to him than Exedra had been in the last months.

Spyro knew that he wanted what Apollonir just said, and he knew that it would be the better for him. It was not only because Apollonir had no troubles with him being a baker, it was because Apollonir supported him and understood him, and Apollonir wanted what was best for him. He wanted Spyro to be happy by doing what he loved the most, and so, Spyro had no doubts at what he wanted.

Even if it was sudden, even if it meant leaving his house and his mother, who was still being supportive for him to do what made him happy the most, Spyro knew that he had to accept it. He knew that it was the best thing he could do.

It was not only because he was mad at Exedra, it was because he knew that he would be much happier living with Apollonir, and that was why he had to do.

"I really want you to adopt me." Spyro said to the red dragon, without a shadow of doubt on his face. "I really know that I want it, and that it will be the best for me."

Spyro sounded sure and honest as he said that. Apollonir could see it pretty well, and he could feel the decision in Spyro's voice and also on see it in his eyes as he looked at the purple dragon, and this left no doubt that Spyro really wanted it.

Apollonir didn't expect such a straight forward decision like that. He was expecting Spyro to think about it and to maul it over by the next day or two, before he would be sure enough to give his answer. However, Apollonir could really see that the purple dragon seemed to be completely sure of what he was saying and of the decision that he was taking, and how it would affect his future, and he seemed to be totally ready to make this decision and that he had no true doubts about all of that.

But the red dragon didn't saw any problem with that. Actually, he was very happy that Spyro seemed to be having consideration over this, and he felt really touched that Spyro really was so ready to accept his invitation and to be officially his son. It almost made his eyes water, but Apollonir had to keep his composure in there.

"Well… I guess it settles it then." The red dragon said to the purple one, offering him a smile, "We still need to put over some of the legal measures, and it might take a month or two, but I guess that it will all go nicely."

Spyro smiled, and he said, "I can't wait to have it all shorted up." The purple dragon said, and he sighed, as he spoke the next part, "So, I suppose that now I'm going to live with you, right?"

"Well, yeah, I guess. But it doesn't have to be right away, unless you want."

"I want." Spyro said, not wanting to get back on his house and to face Exedra again. "Really, I don't think I would be able to come out of that house alive if I told Exedra in his face that he would no longer be my father. It would have much more yelling if I told him that, and I don't want to face him right now."

Apollonir nodded, he understood that things were getting more and more difficult as the time passed, and that if Spyro told to Exedra bout the thing of the adoption, the black dragon would most likely not react nicely.

"So, what about your things?" He asked to the purple dragon, who shrugged and said simply, "We can send someone to grab it later, I don't want to put my paws in that house again and face Exedra once more."

Apollonir nodded, and he said, "So, I guess it is all settled then?" He asked, after a long moment of silence, as he looked at the purple dragon, almost expecting, and then, Spyro was actually able to smile at him.

"Yeah, I guess it is… dad." Spyro said, that word being more meaningful to Apollonir than anything that he had heard in the last twenty years of his life. Apollonir smiled at Spyro, and he did not expected the purple dragon to lean forward on him and to hug him with his wings.

The red dragon was taken aback by the purple dragon's actions, as the dragon hugged him with his wings, and nuzzled at him with his neck. After a few moments, the red dragon smiled, and he started to return the hug, a few tears perking from his eyes as he hugged the purple dragon like he would hug his own son. There was a long moment as both purple and red dragons only hugged each other, and they both had smiles in their faces as they finally separated.

Apollonir sniffed and wiped away the small tears on his face as he looked at Spyro. "Sorry, I tried to be mature in here, but I end up being too sentimental."

"It's okay." Spyro said to him, smiling, and he sighed. "Well, I better get back to work now."

Apollonir nodded, and he said, "Yeah, we can go back home together at night, and e can talk more calmly in there."

Spyro nodded, and he said, "Yeah, sure, dad."

That word, when talking it to Apollonir, was coming out so easy and naturally, and it felt good to call Apollonir that. Spyro really liked it, and he felt good calling that dragon, who understood him so much and who was so supportive to him, just like a parent would. The idea of being Apollonir's son, it was something that somehow appealed to Spyro, and he was discovering that he indeed, loved very much that idea.

Apollonir smiled as he felt touched that the purple dragon was so straight-forward into accepting his offer, and he great by it. He simply nodded as Spyro went out, to back to his work. Apollonir was left alone into the room, and he allowed himself to smile as he was left alone, and he sighed as he wondered about the future, and just what was going to bring the future. Apollonir didn't known, but he knew that it somehow seemed to be brighter to him.

* * *

Spyro felt much happier as he was working that day, and it was easy to notice in the way that he was working.

Some people even asked what was the talk that he had with Apollonir, once he came back with much more enthusiasm to work and with much more happiness, and that people would easily notice it. Spyro didn't answered, though, he simply smiled, and resumed his work in silence, but seeming far brighter when he was already, and letting it show in the happiness with which he did his work.

The day passing with making more orders and more sweets to be sold, as well as bread of all kinds, sweet and non-sweet, and Spyro was happy for working in there, more than he usually was, for he felt like there was a very good change into his future.

For the first time in a while, Spyro felt like he would be back at the at arriving in a home where people would not criticize him and that he would not feel like he was being constantly reproved by the choices he was making in his life. He felt like he would be able to have a nice home and a welcoming ambient in a house that would be his', and that he would not need to give up the things that he liked only to please the people who he lived with.

It seemed that now the things were getting better, and it was enough to make Spyro feel better with himself and reflect it in the way that he was making his work and baking.

The day passed with Spyro reading the orders, and making some other chores around, but mostly baking, and he had just finished the preparation of another Strawberry Dream when he received the notice that one of the responsible for making the deliveries was going to be absent for his mother was sick. It meant that there would be less deliveries made today, and that would get in the way of their income of the day.

Spyro had finished his orders, and he was more than willing to do the delivery, so he offered himself to do it, after all, he had no trouble to travel around into the city, and he didn't saw any problem in doing the delivery, after all, he already did it a few times. Spyro was so satisfied with the things had happened in that day that he would be willing to do most anything that they asked him, even if they asked him to fly around the city three whole times, he would do it gladly and without a single complaint.

Soon, Spyro was on his way, with two cakes in his paws, carefully balanced as the purple dragon flew on his way to somewhere else of the city, and he had a smile on his face the whole time.

The delivery was made on the other side of the city, near a big park. He gave it to two polar bears, who would soon hold a party in their house, maybe that same night, to celebrate the birth of their nephew, of something of the like, Spyro didn't had much time to think of it, for he soon noticed that there were some people crowding in a part of the park, conveniently near of the place that he was at the given moment.

"Have you seen it already?"

"It is for real?"

"I guess so!"

"Man, this is so awesome!"

"Count me in!"

"I'm gonna win it, and that is for sure!"

Spyro looked at the people who were talking a lot about that, and this had been enough to get his interest, and to fuel his curiosity and to make him want to go in there so he could see just was it that everyone was talking about.

As he got closer, he could hear better what people were talking, though they all talked at the same time, Spyro was able to get enough so he got even more curious.

"Man, I'd love to win it!"

"I bet I can make the judges droll over my sweets!"

"They say that Apollonir Fireheart himself studied in there."

"They only accept the best. If you are not good then they don't accept you even if you pay."

"They only take a handful each year."

"The standards are high."

Spyro was getting really curious to see what it was all about, and purple dragon now was _really_ wanting to see what it was all about.

"Excuse me." The purple dragon said as he was passing by the dragons on his way and ahead of him, and trying o open his way to see just what was it that made everyone just so excited about it.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Please, let me pass. I want to see it, please. Oh, sorry miss."

It was being harder than Spyro expected, for it seemed that a lot of people were in there, and they all were having a lot of interest in what was it and Spyro was having to literally open his way among the crowd if he wanted to have any chance of seeing it. The things he was hearing only fueled him to want to look at it more and more, like how people mentioned about sweets, and about Apollonir, and at one moment, Spyro could only hear it all and he could come to the conclusion that it was all about something related to baking, but what, was the thing that Spyro wanted to know and that gave him the drive to move forward and to be there so he could get a good glimpse of what it was all about.

Spyro needed to make a lot of effort, but he was able to open his way through the sea of creatures on his way, being careful not to step in the smaller ones, at the same time that he had to force the bigger ones out of his way, so he could at last get a good glimpse of what was it that they were all looking at.

At one point, Spyro finally got close enough to see what it was, once he was able to make two other dragons, a orange one and a indigo one, to open space to let him fit among them, and the purple dragon could, at last, see what was it that made everyone around take a good look and talk among themselves so much.

It was a sigh, which was let in the middle of the park so people would see it. It was in shades of red, and it had a very good look in it, as it seemed to be a work of professionals, and it was saying, in big letters on the front: **GREAT BAKING CONTEST OF THE SCHOOL OF CULINARY STRONGHEART.**

And right beneath it, was written: **win a chance of studying in our school.**

Of course, Spyro knew what was the School of Culinary Strongheart. Everybody how was a chief or baker of self-respect would know just what it was. It was simply the most famous and renowned school of culinary in the kingdoms. Famous for having made some of the best chiefs and bakers of the kingdom, including Apollonir himself, who had the chance of studying in there and he became what he was today, a great baker, famous in Warfang and out of it.

It was said to have some of the best as the teachers, and they only accepted you if you really had talent for the art of culinary, be it being a chief or being a baker, and that was why everyone wanted to study in there, and also the reason why only the best got the chance of doing so.

By reading the first lines, Spyro got a feeling on his guts. Could it be true? The purple dragon continued to read what was written into the sign that was put in there, line by line.

 **This year, the renowned School of Culinary Strongheart is going to hold in Warfang a baking contest, to choose the next students of the new baking classes.**

 **The contest is open to everyone who has experience with baking and who has the indication of a professional baker and who works as an apprentice. The inscription costs 20 gold coins.**

 **The contest will consist into a competition of baking in which there will be creative and technique contests, and the best of bakers will receive free scholarships to study in the school.**

 **The contests will be held into the main park of Warfang, and it will be evaluated by a group of judges that will evaluate the presentation, style and skill of the competitors, and them will decide which ones shall enter the school and win the scholarships.**

 **The contests will last for two whole weeks, and only the best shall win.**

 **Do you have baking skills? Then come! We are all waiting for you.**

Once Spyro finished reading, he only kept staring at the sign with wide eyes and mouth slightly open. He felt like his legs suddenly were like made of jelly and that his body was trembling slightly from pure excitement.

The purple dragon could barely even believe that it was true, and he felt like it was some kind of sign that the Ancestors themselves had put in there just for him to find.

The School Strongheart was the most famous of all the schools when it came to culinary and to all its facets. Spyro knew it full well, and he knew that the chance of studying in there was one in a million, because the standards were too high. They only took around twenty students each year, and they only accepted you if they really believed you had what it took to be one of the best. It didn't mattered if you had money or if your family was important, if you didn't had the skill needed, then you shouldn't even bother trying to enter. And even if you entered, the school cost really a fortune each month, in a way that really not everyone would be able to enter it and study in there.

They had their own ways of choosing who could enter or not, and now, it seemed that they were holding on a contest of baking in order to choose the students of their next classes, and not only that, but they were also offering free scholarships to the winners, offering them a chance of studying in the school totally for free.

It was something that could happen only once in your life, and it was literally the chance of a lifetime to have the chance of studying in there.

Spyro was so excited that he was barely even able to contain himself, as he felt his whole body shaking from sheer emotion.

Just in the same day that Apollonir had offered to adopt him, Spyro finds out this chance. This amazing chance of studying in the very same place that Apollonir had studied, and that helped him be the one he was today, and that could do the same for Spyro.

Spyro had dreamed of studying in there, but he would need the chance to call their attention, so they would notice him and give him the chance of being their student, so he could be all that he could, and he would learn all that he needed to be successful. Spyro knew that he was skilled, he had heard it from Apollonir many times already, and he knew that he could do it well in that contest if he got in it. Spyro knew that he was going to face a lot of other competitors with the same dream, and who all were skilled and wanted that same thing just as bad as him.

Still, Spyro wanted to participate. He wanted to try and to go for it, for it was exactly a chance that he had always hoped and always dreamed since he decided to be a baker. It was the kind of thing that didn't happened every day, and was the kind of chance that he had to grab with all he could before it would slip away from his grasp and lose itself, maybe forever.

So, after a few moments, Spyro turned around, and he fought his way outside of the crowd, much more anxious this time, as he wanted to find a space wide enough for him to open his wings and take flight and fly back to the bakery, to tell Apollonir, his new father, about the contest and about his plans to enter it and to win the scholarship.

As Spyro went across the crowd, and as he finally was able to spread his wings and flap them enough to raise himself from the ground and fly to the open sky, he could not help but wonder just how good things were getting that day, and how things seemed to be turning alright for him.

Now, once again, things seemed to be turning better for his future.


	3. Fresh New Start, Fresh New Life

Spyro didn't stopped at all as he was flying back to the bakery, nor to talk to anyone, nor to take a breather, nor to do anything. He was far too excited with what he had just discovered, and he wanted to be back into there as soon as possible in order to talk with Apollonir about it, and to see if he liked the idea, Spyro was most sure that he would.

Spyro entered in a rush into the bakery, and he passed by the kitchen in a rush too, startling the people who were working in there, who all let out surprised exclamations as the purple dragon, almost a purple blur, passed by them with great speed.

Spyro went straight to Apollonir's office, and he was in such a great rush that he entered without knocking, and he caught the red dragon off guard as he rushed inside.

Apollonir was surprised to see Spyro break into his office like that and in such a hurry, and of course that he wanted to know what it was about. And also, he was curious by the fact that the purple dragon, as panted and looked at him, was looking unusually happy, maybe even more than he was when he got out.

Spyro finally had a chance to breathe and he also drank several gulps of water that Apollonir offered to him, as he finally had arrived and now he had to recover his breath from flying like mad all the way from there to where he was now.

As soon as Spyro had recovered enough his breath, he told to Apollonir what he had just saw in the park, the sign, and the thing that was announced in there. About the contest of baking that would offer a scholarship to study into the Strongheart School, and that Spyro wanted to get into the contest and maybe win the scholarship.

Of course, Apollonir seemed as excited about it as Spyro thought he would.

"This is a great opportunity." The red dragon said to the purple one, as they both were getting really excited because of it. "I talk for my own experience that they are the best that there is around, after all, they helped me be what I am today. I could become a successful baker as I am today thanks to their help and to the chance of having studied in there."

Indeed, the chance of studying in there was a great one. Sure, Apollonir had learned in there once he entered, that the chance of going to a good school like that was only part of the thing of being a successful baker. The rest was dedication, passion and the ability to bake. Spyro had more than enough of all of these three, and with the chance of the good study that they offered in Strongheart, Apollonir just knew that the purple dragon would have just the most amazing future ahead of him!

They passed the next minutes discussing about the School, and about all that Spyro could probably learn in there, being taught by the most skilled and the most professional, the best of the best, and that the purple dragon could not let this chance escape, and Spyro totally agreed with it. He was ready to take it and to win.

"So, when do the inscriptions start?" Apollonir asked, feeling very excited, and the purple dragon, who was as excited as him, said, "In two days, and the contest will be starting one week later. But the inscription demands money."

"I'll pay it." Apollonir said without a second of hesitation, and he smiled to the purple dragon. After all, he had just adopted Spyro, and the purple dragon was almost officially his son by now, and Apollonir would be a very bad parent if he didn't helped his son any way he could.

Spyro was really happy for it, and both he and Apollonir discussed a while more about it.

"So, what kind of challenges usually come into this contest?" Asked Spyro, now getting to the part of the work that he was going to get into that contest, after all, it was a competition.

"According to what you read, there will be creative and technique challenges." Apollonir said, thinking about it. "It means that the creative challenges will test your ability to innovate and to create new things to impress people. As for the technique challenges, well, they will test your abilities to follow recipes and directions, and to correctly prepare complicated recipes correctly and with ability."

"I can do that." Spyro said with a smile, and Apollonir nodded, "I know, but this will be a competition, remember, what means that you will be up against many other people who have the same goal in their minds, people who are very skilled."

Spyro nodded as he knew that Apollonir was right. The chance of studying into the School Strongheart was a big one, and there were a lot of bakers in the whole town who would kill to have this chance. Spyro knew that he was not the only one aiming big and aiming to have that scholarship, and that the judges would probably be people who knew about baking, and so, who had very elevated standards to when it came to bakery and to culinary.

Creating a cake that impresses a customer who came to the bakery after a sweet was one thing, but trying to impress a judge, who has years of experience and who had most likely tasted of the best in his life, and who was hired specially to be in there and be as criticizing and objective with the food as possible, and who was surely not afraid of hurting someone's feelings with his words, once they were talking about entering into a very famous, desired, renowned and with such high standards school, like the Strongheart, now that was a completely different matter.

Spyro knew it pretty well, and so did Apollonir, and they both also knew that it meant. Spyro would have to do better than his best to win. It was not just some practice and it was not only about doing a good work for a customer, it was doing something that would really impress people enough to convince them that Spyro indeed _was_ deserving of entering into the Strongheart.

Apollonir knew he was. And Spyro had pretty sure that he was. All they had to do was convince the judges that he truly was.

Apollonir and Spyro were talking so much about it that they barely even noticed the time passing, until someone knocked in the door. It was one of the cheetah bakers, who was saying that they had some orders and that would be nice to have Spyro to help.

Apollonir agreed with it, and so did the purple dragon, and they both had agreed to talk more calmly about it later on, and so, Spyro returned to his job.

Of course, this did not diminished his great excitement for such a big thing, and everyone noticed that Spyro was showing much more passion into his baking than usual, and that he was doing an even better job.

Many people asked Spyro what it was about, and the purple dragon only smiled, and said that his life was turning for the better. People usually took it that things were going good to the purple dragon, and that he was showing it in the way that he worked, which was not a lie, and so, they left him be, and so, the day went on.

* * *

A lot of work and anxiety (in Spyro's case) the day was finally over, and Apollonir congratulated his team for the good work and he wished them all a good night and remembered them to be back early in the morning in the following day, for it was another day for work and to make more requests.

Soon, everyone was heading back home, the two-leggers walking away while the dragons took flight back to their homes. Spyro had stayed behind to help Apollonir close and lock the door, just like he had done many times already.

However, that night was different. It felt different to Spyro. It was different because now, for the first time, he was not dreading to go back to his house, for now he had a new one.

"So…" Apollonir asked the purple dragon, once they made sure that the bakery was locked and safe for the night. "Ready to know your new house, son?"

Spyro smiled, it felt good having Apollonir calling him "son", somehow it just felt right to Spyro. "You can bet I am, dad."

And calling Apollonir "dad" felt just as good and as right.

Soon, the two dragons were flapping their wings, and they were both taking it up to the sky. They left the bakery and the city behind, as they were both now taking flight to the same direction, a direction that Spyro already knew, but never had gone before, unless to pass in front of it.

They flew for a few minutes, before they finally arrived in there.

It was a great manor, as great as it was possible to be when you are a baker as successful as Apollonir was. One of the complaints of Exedra about Spyro being a baker was that he said that Spyro would not have enough money to live of it. However, the purple dragon was sure that, if Exedra saw just how big of a house Apollonir could afford with his income from being a baker, he would surely change his mind.

Spyro flew with him in direction to the gates, and he stood there with Apollonir, who was already searching in his bag for the key, which was a big one, to combine with the door, and he quickly inserted it in the keyhole and he turned it, unlocking the door.

As soon as he walked inside, he was greeted by a very elegant and magnificent sight. The inside of the place was beautiful, and the decoration of his house was amazing. It made the one in Spyro's house look tramp in comparison, once it all seemed to be the best.

Spyro was amazed looking around, and he was also amazed by seeing some people working around the house. Spyro had counted five, all of them Cheetah's, and all of them wearing uniform, indicating that they were the house keepers, servants who worked for Apollonir.

It took almost one minute before another one, a indigo-colored dragon, would come to them and stand respectably. "Mr. Fireheart, welcome back home." He said ina very formal tone, and Apollonir chuckled, "It is good to be home, Stainwing."

The indigo dragon, who was wearing an attire like the ones of the rest of the servants, bowed his head respectfully at the red dragon, and turned his eyes for the purple dragon. "We have a guest tonight, I see."

"A _permanent_ guest." Apollonir said to him with a smile, glancing at Spyro. "I'm going to explain better later, but first, I think that Spyro would like a good bath to relax."

"Yes, sir, of course." He said as he bowed respectfully at the red dragon, and he turned to the purple one, and said to him, with the same respect, "Follow me, please."

Spyro nodded, and he soon was following the indigo dragon, who attended by the name of Stainwing, and he was guided through the hallways. As Spyro passed with several hallways ("wow, that house is so big that if I try to walk here alone I might get lost!" was the though in Spyro's head as he was guided through the hallways) and in the way, they had passed by several doors, and by also some works of art that were in the hallways, like statues and also some paintings, some of places like beaches, cliffs and forest, and some of dragons and dragonesses.

Many of them had Apollonir, and what seemed to be younger versions of him. Spyro came to the conclusion that they were family portraits, of all of his family. And sure, he saw many dragons in there the held resemblance with Apollonir, most likely his family.

There was also one figure that stood in many of the portraits, and it was a dragoness. She was beautiful, and that Spyro could tell. She was very feminine and slender-looking, and she seemed to be a very attractive figure. Her scales were magenta colored, and her eyes were of a regal purple, and her underbelly was white colored, almost like the purest marble, and her horns too, projecting backwards in her head. Her tailblade, in the portraits that it appeared, was shaped like a slender arrow. She had a beautiful face, and in every portrait that she appeared, she seemed to be always smiling and to always have a serene look in her.

She was in a lot of portraits with Apollonir, all of them close to each other. In one they were nuzzling together. In one they were both sitting side by side, with Apollonir having his wings around her, and one of them, in particular, caught Spyro's attention, for in there, Apollonir was wearing a long ruby-colored mantle with a golden tie around his neck, and golden rings on his horns. She was by his side, wearing something similar, but her mantle was pink-colored with silver, as well as the horns in her head. They were both together in front of an altar, both smiled and both of them looked to be very happy.

Spyro had heard a lot about Apollonir, but he never heard that the fire dragon was married. For all that he knew, Apollonir was unmarried, and he never heard of anyone mentioning any kind of romance that the red dragon would be currently having.

Spyro noticed that in these pictures, Apollonir looked to be a lot younger than he was now, and that it was the only age in which he was seem with the dragoness, and that she did not appeared in older versions of Apollonir.

This made Spyro wonder…

"Her name was Pyra." Spyro heard the servant say to him, and he looked at the dragon who was guiding him, and who didn't looked at him as he only kept guiding him through the hallways. "She was Master Apollonir's wife."

Was. In the past.

"She died years ago." He said to Spyro as he kept guiding him. "Master Apollonir loved her more than he ever loved any other dragoness in his whole life. They were married and happy until the day that she died. That almost destroyed him."

By the tone in which the dragon was talking, it seemed that he was wanting to talk about it seriously, and that there was no room for playing around with that. "We avoid mentioning her, once it gets master Apollonir very sad every time that she is mentioned. Even after all these years, her death still haunts him."

Spyro shuttered, and he passed by another picture, in which Apollonir and Pyra, the dragoness, were into a loving embrace, both of them looked very happy. "I'm telling it to you so you don't need to ask master Apollonir directly about her. Besides, if you are going to be living in this house, as I suspect that you will, then you would know about her sooner or later, and I guess it would be better you hearing this from me than to asking Master Apollonir."

By the way, it seemed that the subject was very touchy. Looking at the way that Apollonir and the dragoness Pyra were together in the pictures, it didn't demanded much for Spyro to understand why. They seemed to really love each other. Apollonir seemed to love her, and to be truly happy with her by his side. If he really loved her so much, then losing her much have been a pain to great for him to bear.

It was understandable why she was never mentioned though, if her death was still plaguing Apollonir just like the servant had said, then he would avoid talking about her, and he would try to not to think about her too much in order to don't feel pain. It would make sense, after all, losing a loving one was painful.

Spyro even thought about asking how she had died, but he decided that it would be caring too much about gossip and not respecting nor the death nor the living. So, the purple dragon remained in a respectful silence as he was guided the rest of the way to the bathrooms.

And what a bathroom it was. It was big, the walls and floor made of marble and the pool for the bath was so big that ten adult dragons would fit in it without any problem.

"The dinner will be ready in one hour, please, take your time to take your bath, and if you need, just pull the rope. It will sound a bell and someone will come to see what you need." The indigo dragon said, and he turned around to leave, closing the double door behind himself, and letting Spyro behind to admire the bathroom.

The marble was beautifully worked, and the pool, by watching closely, had some golden veins and trimmings in it, almost seemed to be made of gold itself. That place was beautiful, just like the rest of the house.

Spyro took a while admiring it before he actually got in the work of taking a bath. He filled the pool with hot water, form the several sinks that were placed around it. There was also some bottles near, very beautiful by themselves, and that had several salts to be added in the water, that helped to clean and also that had varied smells. It was all to make the bath more pleasurable.

The purple dragon took his while to enjoy the warm water of his bath, which helped him relax and take away the tool of a day of work form his shoulders as he relaxed and sunk till the neck in the water, which now was perfumed with the salts Spyro had chosen. The smell would adhere to his body once he was off and got dried, and then, he would smell good for the rest of the night. It was a good feeling that he was going to come to enjoy.

Spyro took his time in the bath, and soon he was finished, and he got up dripping from the pool, and let the water be drained away from the pool as he was dripping in the marble. Spyro looked around, and he saw a few drawers, and the purple dragon walked to them and opened. As he suspected, the found a lot of towels in there, made of linen and cotton, and all of them beautifully knitted.

Spyro picked one of them, a long one, of purple color, and he used it to dry himself up. Once he was dry enough, he got out of the bathroom, and he looked around.

He should have paid attention to the path that they were making, because now, Spyro was afraid that he could get lost if he walked alone in the house, and he would end up missing dinner.

Spyro then remembered of what Stainwing had said, about the bell. Spyro pulled the rope and soon the sound of a small bell echoed from the bathroom to the near hallway. Spyro barely had to wait a full minute before two cheetah servants came to him, both dressed accordingly, and they bowed at him. "There is anything you wish, Master Spyro?"

Master Spyro… It felt a bit weird being called like that by someone. After all, Spyro had grew up into a regular family, and having people bowing to him like that addressing him as "master" felt somewhat weird.

"Huhhh, right, I just finished bathing and I wanted to go to the dining room, but…" Spyro said, and he looked around. "The house is big and I just arrived, I kind of… don't know the way." He said, blushing a little, and the cheetahs bowed again. "Yes, of course, please, follow us." And they both turned around and started to guide the purple dragon, who followed them along the way.

Spyro made sure not to lose them both of sight, once he was pretty sure that, if he lost them, he would most likely get lost in that big house and he would pass the next three hours trying to find the way back to the entrance hall. This time, as he followed, Spyro made sure to pay attention on the way to the dinning, making sure to memorize where were the things that he could use as a reference to find himself in the case he would really get lost in there.

After a while, they went downstairs, and they guided the purple dragon in direction to the wide place that was the dining room, and the inside was as beautiful as the rest of the house. The table in which the dinner was going to be served was big and it seemed that it would be able to serve a feast to a whole crowd.

Apollonir was already in there, and he smiled when Spyro approached and took a place in the table next to him.

"Sorry for taking so long." The purple dragon said, and the red dragon simply chuckled, and said, "It's okay, I admit the house is rather big. Besides, I don't really see a problem in you being late in your first night."

Spyro smiled at the red dragon, as the food they would be eating was brought to them: a delicious and very generous piece of roasted sheep. Spyro tasted it, and he was sure that Apollonir had some of the best chiefs in the town to prepare food for him. What made sense, after all, Apollonir himself understood of food, once baking was a form of culinary, only that it was more focused into the making of things like breads and cakes. So, the bakers were also chiefs, and chiefs were the ones who knew and demanded most of the food that they ate.

The food was maybe the best he had ate in a long time (with due respect to his mother's cooking), and it was sure food of first quality. As he ate, the servants said, "You wish for something more, Master Spyro?"

"No, I'm fine." Spyro said, still a bit uneasy about being called "master", and the servants only bowed and walked away. Apollonir looked at the purple dragon, and asked. "A bit uncomfortable?"

The purple dragon looked at him, "Just not used to the whole 'master' thing." He said, and the red dragon chuckled. "Yeah, I myself live trying to make them drop the formal thing. Anyway, I already told them that I'll adopt you."

The red dragon seemed happy as he said it, and Spyro smiled too. "That means that from now on you will be my rightful heir, and so, they all own you as much respect as they own me." Apollonir winked at the purple dragon as he said it, and Spyro chuckled at it, and so, they both continued to eat, and, as they had agreed before, they continued to talk about the thing of the contest, and about the kinds of challenges that Spyro would face in it.

"You will need to prepare." Apollonir said as they were already halfway done with their food. "These kinds of contests are not like the things you do into the kitchen of the bakery. Besides having to be creative and having to follow recipes perfectly, you also will have to do it in a limited amount of time. They usually give two or one and half hours for you to prepare, so you must be ready to deal with baking against the clock."

Spyro nodded, and it was an important bit of information for him. Spyro was used to working into the kitchen, and to make things quick. However, he had the good grace of having a lot of time at his disposal, so he usually didn't had to worry that much about precisely set time limits. At tops, he had to work in a little of a rush to have things set up in a certain amount of time to have them ready to be put into the display for everyone. Also, while his elemental abilities were useful to him while helping him cook, even then it needed a certain amount of time to get it all ready, just like it would take to have then cooked on the oven. Only because the process was speed up, then it didn't meant that he could have it all ready into a blink on an eye.

Spyro knew that he was going to have trouble with that thing of the precise set time, and that he was going to have to struggle if he wanted to have a chance at it. He would now be up against the clock, and that changed everything.

"You will have to start training." Apollonir said to the purple dragon, as he was still munching into his sheep. "It is not only the work in the bakery that will do now. Now you will have to work a lot more. You will have to try on new recipes, to do very intricate works, and will have to be able to work with little time to get the work not only done in time and with a very good appearance but also with a perfect taste. This kind of thing is not easy. It is not only a contest to see if you can bake, it is also to see if you can make it just like a professional."

Spyro nodded. He was fully aware of all of that. He knew that this kind of situation, this kind of thing, was the kind in which you needed to really be as good as a professional baker to be able to finish it in time and to mark a good score to yourself with the judges. Spyro was going to have to work a lot more than he had probably ever worked before in his life if he wanted to have good chances of actually winning that scholarship. Spyro truly wanted, and he was going to do all that he could to achieve it.

Apollonir knew it. He didn't even needed to ask it to the purple dragon, for it was very clear and very easy to see in the look of determination that Spyro's face was holding up.

There was a clear worry and apprehension in the eyes of the purple dragon, however, it was easy to see the shine that was in them, past that superficial worries, and the determination and the desire that were in there, and that were driving the purple dragon to go after what he truly wanted and desired.

Apollonir knew that look pretty well, and he knew also what it meant. It meant that, despite feeling intimidated by the challenges that were lying ahead and the difficulties that were going to be presented to him, the purple dragon was not going to give up. He was going to keep going until he reached his goal and he would finally have it on his paws.

Apollonir admired it, for it was the trait of someone who truly knew where wanted to go at life, and who was willing to take the full sail and risks to achieve his dreams. Apollonir could only smile to himself, as he once more let himself get admired by the spirit of the purple dragon, a spirit that his birth father seemed not to take inconsideration by all the times that he was busy criticizing the choices that Spyro had made for his life.

Apollonir, however, truly understood the purple dragon, and so, he was ready to offer him all the help and support that he would need, both in the money for him to get script into the event, the training and knowledge he was going to need, and into the encouragement that he would need among the difficulties and the hardships that were going to appear, and Apollonir was almost sure that there was going to be plenty of them ahead, even though he didn't said that aloud to the purple dragon, he already had the feeling that he knew it.

The rest of the dinner moved on with them discussing the new "training sessions" that they were going to need to help Spyro to improve himself, and also all the time that they were going to dedicate at it. Apollonir even talked about closing the bakery for a day or two to help Spyro to get ready for it, a suggestion that Spyro heavily refused.

Spyro was thankful for the red dragon wanting to help him in all that he could need, but he was not ready to see Apollonir leave his business hanging and lose money and maybe the confidence of his customers only to help him get ready for this contest.

They spent a while discussing this, Spyro saying that it was not needed and that they could find some free time for him to practice that would not get in the way of their work, while Apollonir was insisting that his work was going pretty well and that there was no problem in leaving it closed for a few days or even for a week as he helped the purple dragon to get ready for this chance in a lifetime. Spyro was afraid that he would barely even be Apollonir's son and he would already become a bother to him, while the red dragon totally disagreed with the purple one, and assured him that he would have no problem in doing it for help, and actually would be very glad to do so.

The night ended with them settling that Apollonir would close the bakery sooner during the following days, so him and Spyro would have time to practice. Spyro was still worried that he was going to be a bother to Apollonir, while the red dragon was still thinking that he should use more time to help Spyro get ready to the big event and to all that it carried along with it.

In the end, they decided that it was enough, and so, they both had to tuck in for the sleep, and to start to carry on their new training from tomorrow on.

Apollonir called another servant, a black panther, who bowed to him and was tasked of showing the purple dragon what would be his new room. It was originally a guests room, but now, it was going to become Spyro's private quarters.

The cheetah bowed at Apollonir, and turned to the purple dragon. "This way, Master Spyro."

Okay, Spyro was still uneasy about the whole thing of being called "master", it was the kind of thing that didn't fit very much in the way he was created, and he caught himself, just like Apollonir, wanting that servant to be a little less formal. Still, the purple dragon was glad that he had someone to guide him to his new bedroom, for he highly doubted that he was going to be able to find it on his own.

"Goodnight, son." Apollonir said, smiling at the purple dragon, and Spyro smiled back at him, saying a "See you in the morning, dad."

The red dragon smiled at this, and he went his own way as the servants took away the plates which were served, and the purple dragon was now following the tiger servant in direction to the place that from now on he would call his bedroom.

It took at least ten minutes of walking through the hallways and staircases till they reached the right door, and Spyro made sure to memorize the way the best he could as they walked from there to here. The door was just like the others, and once it was opened, Spyro saw himself into the place.

It was a very big room, and there was a big bed that seemed to be made for at least three dragons to lie in, and also a big drawer in there which Spyro supposed that was most likely empty. The place looked to be as much beautiful as the rest of the house, and Spyro had the impression that he would, most likely, enjoy loving in there, all that was missing was all of his stuff, which were still into his old house.

Thinking about that house as his old one was a very strange feeling to Spyro, mostly because he wasn't sure if it was really bad or good. In a side, he was giving up the place where he grew up and where he once had a very good life with his family, and also, because he was leaving behind his mother who would, most likely, be heartbroken by this decision that he had made.

By the other paw, he was leaving behind a place that, in the last times, had been nothing more than a source of stress and frustration to him, due to all of his fights that he had with Exedra, his birth father who did not understood his feelings and his motivations, and who did nothing else than criticize constantly his choices and his dream, and tell him constantly that he was wasting his time doing the things he wanted to do and chasing the things that really moved him and which he really liked. That kind of stress made Spyro be uncomfortable in a place that was supposed to be his house, a place that he should be safe and sound in, and in which he would be able to stay calm and relax and feel safe.

It had not been like that in a long time, thanks to Exedra and his conceptions of what would be a good profession to a "dragon of respect". Still, it had one day been a good place for him, a place in which he had been very happy, and in which he had several found memories of his family, before all the things had went wrong and it all had started to go downhill, only because his father could not understand him.

Spyro really didn't knew if he should be happy for he finally having the chance to leave that place behind and start anew in a new house, or if he should be grieving for his life had went down in a way that he would be forced to leave his own house and search for a new one so he could at least not be afraid of going back home.

What was he thinking!?

That was NOT the reason why he accepted! No! He had accepted it because of Apollonir! He did it because the red dragon had done more for him than Exedra had done in the past months. Because he felt more like a father to him than Exedra did, and because he was willing to support Spyro as he was searching for his dream and for the hopes that he had for his won future.

THAT was the true reason why he had come to live with him in his house. THAT was the reason why he had accepted for Apollonir to adopt him. THAT was the true reason why he was standing in this new room and ready to embrace his new life.

It had nothing to do with Exedra. No. That stupid old dragon did not decided his future or his life anymore. It was about Spyro. About what made him be happy and sad, about what made him be a person and about what he wanted for his future and for what he wanted to do next, and in which Apollonir would help him with.

That was what it was really about.

"Master Spyro?" Asked the servant, whose Spyro had even forgotten was there. The two-legged creature was standing in there, respectfully and with the hand behind his back, looking expectantly at the purple dragon. "There is anything else that you desire?"

"Huh… Oh! No. I mean, it… it is all, thank you." Spyro said, still feeling uneasy of being treated as if he was some kind of prince or something of the like. He would surely take sometime to get used to it, if they were really gonna keep this kind of thing with him.

"Would you like to be wake up in the morning at the same time as Master Apollonir?" He asked, and Spyro thought about it. Yeah, indeed, he and Apollonir from now on would be going to work together and at the same time, maybe he would even now help Apollonir to open the bakery and he would probably be the first to start working. It made sense that he and Apollonir would now be woke up in the same time so they could make it together. Even if it meant that Spyro would have to get used to waking up even earlier than what he usually did, for he listened from everyone in the bakery that Apollonir was always the first one to arrive, and before everyone else.

"Yes, that would be good, thank you…" Spyro just realized that he didn't even knew the name of the servant, and he felt a little embarrassed, and soon, the cheetah said, "The name is Clifferhigh, Master Spyro. He said, and he bowed, and he said, "Goodnight" and he left, leaving Spyro behind and alone in the room that now was his'.

It didn't took long before Spyro decided that it was better to go to sleep now, if he didn't wanted to have to be threw out of bed in the morning. As Spyro laid in the bed, and he felt just how soft and comfortable it was, he wondered if that would really be a necessity, if anyone wanted him to get up from it and to move so to get ready to work.

Spyro sighed as he laid flat on the bed, in a rather comfortable position, accentuated by the softness of the bed that he was laying in, and soon, he was finding himself drifting off to a very peaceful slumber. Actually, much more peaceful than he had having in a very long time, almost as if a great burden had been taken off his shoulders…

* * *

The previous days had went on with little to no problem, actually, they went very much as both Apollonir and Spyro had hoped.

First on, both Apollonir and Spyro woke up (or rather, they were woke up by the servants) right before the sun was raising, just a few moments before, and they both took decent baths and ate a good breakfast before they both started to fly off in direction to the bakery. Once they were there, Spyro helped Apollonir to open it.

Spyro still didn't understood why Apollonir liked to do it by himself every morning, if he could very well hire someone to do it all for him and take care of all these worries for him. He even asked this to the red dragon, and Apollonir only smiled to him, and he said that it was good to do it, because it made him always remember that the reason why he did it was not for the money, but because it was what he loved to do. That it was his passion and was what he dedicated his whole life, and so, it was what made him truly happy simply by doing it. Opening the store by himself and organizing he things and even cooking a recipe or two before the others arrived, was a way of granting himself to always remember the true reason, more than the money, fame or anything else, that made him want to become a baker.

Spyro felt that there was a lesson and an advice into what Apollonir had just told him. And they were both very good ones, and which Spyro felt like he should try to remember for the future.

Spyro helped him with all he could, and he even helped him bake. It felt very good helping Apollonir with baking, and working together with him, as if they were really a family. And they were, after all, since Apollonir decided to adopt the purple dragon.

Baking with his father was a feeling that Spyro always wondered what would be like, but he never had the chance, once Exedra never really was the kind who enjoyed being in the kitchen to do anything, for it was "a female's duty" as he had put it, and so, he never bothered to go baking with Spyro. Right now, however, he was baking with his new adoptive father, Apollonir Fireheart, and they were both laughing and having fun as they did something that they both loved, and Apollonir was using this time to already start to give Spyro important hints and some advices that Spyro already knew that would be very important into the contest that would come next, and Spyro just loved seeing how much he could be happy with a father baking with him, as he was knowing what this feeling was like for the very first time.

Spyro discovered that he was feeling happier than he had felt in several years.

The rest of the day went quietly, and as promised, Apollonir dismissed the staff and closed the bakery earlier, and soon, he and Spyro were back home and soon, as they promised, they would start to train.

The training was rather simple, it was for Spyro to learn to be able to work into complex and very detailed recipes in a determined amount of time, and sure, Apollonir was making sure that the purple dragon would be able to do all of the work in the right time, being sure to remind him the importance of doing it in the right time, always following the clock.

It was a little hard, with Apollonir remembering the time that was resting from time to time, as if a regressive count. Spyro knew it was for his own good, yet, it made him feel nervous, and sure with the recipe that Apollonir had chosen for him, a rather complex one, but now very much, it was hard to keep the right count of the time at the same time that he made sure to follow every single detail of the recipe in order to be sure that it was going to end up perfect, just as it was to expect into a contest like that.

Sure, it all was made easier by Apollonir, who didn't hesitated in give him hints and orientations in order to help him do a very good job. By the time that Spyro was done, the work he had done was good, even though they had went past the limit time by almost twenty minutes. He needed to do better than that if he actually wanted to win that scholarship, and Spyro knew it full well.

Apollonir helped to cheer him up, and he said that they were going to keep training in order to get Spyro ready for the great event, and sure they were still going to beat their time next time.

And so, it went for the next two days, with them waking up, and going to work, and finishing earlier and then going back home in order to practice more, sometimes, they stayed up till late working in it, all of that to help Spyro get ready.

Spyro's new bedroom already had his things in there, for they had sent someone in Spyro's house to get them all, and this person communicated to the people in there that Spyro was now living with Apollonir, and about the whole situation. They didn't said very much about how Exedra reacted, but Spyro heard that his mother had become devastated, and that had a weight in his conscience.

But the purple dragon was cheered up once again by Apollonir, who told him that he was sure that his mother was going to understand, and that she was going to forgive him for going. That was enough to make the purple dragon relax a little.

The days had passed rather quickly for Spyro's taste, and soon, it was the day for the inscriptions.

Apollonir went there with Spyro, carrying the bag with the golden coins that were going to be used for his inscription. Sure, having someone famous in the world of baking like Apollonir going in there was a great thing, and so, everyone looked and opened space to him, due to both wonder and respect to him, and Spyro walked by his side.

The responsible for the inscriptions was an aged dragon, with dull green scales and big horns like the ones of a goat in his head, and he looked at Spyro through the lenses of his glasses, and he accepted both his money and his signature in the inscription.

Spyro Nightwing was inscripted into the great contest, as the apprentice of Apollonir Fireheart.

This, of course, lead many people to talk. They knew of Apollonir's fame, and they knew that, someone who studied under his care and who learned of baking with him already came with great advantage into the contest, even because Apollonir was held into the Strongheart School at very high regards, due for him being someone of great pride to them, due to have studied with them before becoming who he was now.

Apollonir assured Spyro that this had nothing to do with the competition, and that the judges would little mind if the one who got inscript was the son of the king himself, they were going to judge everyone equally, having in mind only the skill and ability that they were going to show during the contest.

Soon after that, both Spyro and Apollonir were back home, and they were just in the training for the contest.

"And now, three… two..one… Stop what you are doing!" Apollonir said, and Spyro imeddiatelly stopped what he was doing and stepped away from the balcony as the cake he was making was almost completely ready. The covering was done, but the decoration hadn't been finished properly yet.

Otherwise, the cake looked very good.

Apollonir looked at it, and he said, "Very well, but you should have used the time to get it completely decorated." There was a criticizing in his voice, but it was a constructive one, and Spyro took it gladly as something that would help him do it better in the future.

Apollonir sliced for himself a piece of the cake, and he tasted it, and he said, "You did a good job, and I can sense most of the main ingredients in here. But I guess the paste of the cake is a little dry. You should try using more milk or butter in the future, to help keep it humid."

Another very good advice that Spyro would take very gladly and thankfully from his teacher, his father. Spyro had already planned to put more milk in there, but he had little time due to the time of the clock running short. Spyro was still having problems in being able to do all the things he wanted with the recipe and yet doing it during the right time. Knowing that he was going in a race against time made him nervous and less focused, and Spyro was getting worried that this could lead to his downfall during the contest.

Apollonir smiled at him, and he said, "Hey, don't be like that." He was gentle as he placed a claw in Spyro's shoulder, and he said, "You are improving. You _can_ do it in the right time, you just need to be able to focus more in the details and do things with more attention without losing time. It is important, and not even only when we talk about contests. Being able to cook good and fast is a good attribute to every chief and baker, and it is taken in very high regards. The best can do their recipes in a short amount of time and make them near perfection. You are already doing great. We only need to keep practicing and I'm sure that you will have the scholarship."

These words were not only kind, but they were also sincere. Apollonir really had faith in him, and believed that he could win the scholarship. If Apollonir believed in him, well, Spyro then surely had no reason not to believe in himself. The purple dragon was able to smile, and he hugged the red dragon, who got slightly surprised by this.

"Thanks dad." The purple dragon said, and he nuzzled at the red dragon, who embraced him back with his wings, and said, "You're welcome, son."

They stayed together for a while, and Apollonir finally said, "Well, I better take the cake to the kitchen and put it in somewhere the ants won't find it."

Spyro was able to chuckle, and he let go of him, and Apollonir picked the cake very carefully and walked with it in direction to the kitchen, "Well, you take a small break, you are working hard." He said with a smile to the purple dragon, before walking out of sight.

Spyro sighed as he had a smile on his face, as he was feeling now happier than he remember having felt in a very long time. So, the purple dragon decided to walk a little to the library and grab himself something to read to pass time. These breaks usually lasted for half an hour or so, though Spyro thought that he maybe would take half of it to find the library again.

Spyro had been living in there for two whole days now, and as he had gotten used to the hallways and he had even memorized some paths, he was still getting used to walk among them, and so, he got lost with certain frequency, and he usually had to ask for the servants to help to find his way to places. This left the purple dragon a little embarrassed that he was getting lost in his own house (yeah, that was his house now, and Spyro had already grew used to the idea) but, come on, he just moved in a few days ago!

The purple dragon was now trying to remember what he had saw on the way to the library so he could remember the way that was in there, when he heard something.

There was someone bagging into a door, and it was insisted. Actually, it almost seemed as if someone as trying to bring a door down. Spyro stopped and he looked around, a little scared, as he tried to pin-point exactly where the noise was coming from, and it was not only continuing, but also seemed to be getting stronger, as if someone was really trying to bring a door down.

Spyro even got the hint of a voice, which seemed distant, and it was hard to understand, but that voice seemed awfully familiar to him.

"I'm going!" Said one of the servants, whose voice Spyro already recognized, and soon, he heard another voice, this one familiar and unmistakable, which said, "Where is he!?"

Spyro froze as he heard that voice, and he knew that it could only be one person. Spyro immediately dashed across the hallways, and he followed the voice in direction to the entrance hall, and he was praying to the ancestors that he was mistaken and that it was not who he was thinking that it was.

"What do you want?"

"Tell me now where he is!"

"Hey, you can't go entering like that!"

"Shut up!"

Spyro was hurrying, as he already knew who it could be, and he had the dread sense in his mind that there was no way of him being mistaken about this. Spyro continued to run in a rush, and he arrived just in time to see one of the servants, a cheetah, talking to another dragon, black with white underbelly and with a white mask on his face.

"I'm gonna call the guard!" The cheetah said, clearly angry that someone was simply breaking into the house like that, and this person could very well be a thief or some short of lunatic.

The black dragon snarled at him, "I'm from the guard! Now tell me where my son is!"

Spyro just stood there, looking at the black dragon, who didn't took long to look in his direction. Exedra was mad, and that was clear by the look in his eyes, which his white mask failed to hide. There was some burning rage in them, as he looked deep at the purple dragon, and he said "You!"

He walked in direction to Spyro, and the purple dragon gave a step back, and he said, "G-go away!"

"You come with me." The black dragon said as he walked in his direction, "You have a lot to explain, young man, but first, I'm going to take you back home!"


	4. Deep Wound

Spyro had dreaded this kind of reaction from Exedra. The black dragon always was hard to deal with, and he could be stubborn like no other dragon was able to, and he was able to be the kind of dragon that always decided to take matters on his own paws.

Spyro had been afraid of his reaction to his decision of being adopted by Apollonir and going to live with him, leaving his old live behind. Of course, Spyro tried to think that there was nothing that Exedra would be able to do, according to the law.

But deep inside he knew that, if Exedra really got problems with this decision, the law would be the last thing on his mind. And now, it seemed that his fear was being fulfilled as Exedra had practically broke inside Spyro's new home and now he was demanding Spyro to go back with him.

"Come on!" Exedra said, as he approached Spyro, with slightly unbalanced steps. "Grab your stuff and we are going home now!"

"Stay away from me!" Spyro said, giving a step back. He could clearly perceive that the black dragon had been dirking. It was clear by the way that he walked, by the look on his face, and by the slightly drownzy tune of his voice. Spyro had only saw his father .like that in very rare occasions, as Exedra was not the kind of dragon who drank more than he should. Still, the few times that he saw Exedra like that had taught him that it was a better idea to stay away from him.

Spyro knew that trying to reason with him like that would be useless, so all he could do was to step back and hope that the black dragon was going to give up and go away. However, he once again knew that he was fooling himself, for Exedra was not the kind of dragon who gave up. The black dragon was just too stubborn to that.

"Stop playing around!" Exedra nearly shouted back, and he approached Spyro. "You wanted my attention? You got it! Now stop this non-sense and lets go back home!"

"This is my home now!" Spyro cried back, feeling all feed up and tired of having Exedra wanting to decide for him all that he should or should not do with his life. Spyro was tired of living frustrated and scared of the black dragon, and now he wanted to take hold of his own life. He had not came to there and made all the decisions that he made until now only so he would give up in all because Exedra was not happy with what he had decided to do.

Spyro was sick and tired of that, and he refused to lower his head only so Mr. Exedra would get what he wants and have things his own way. Spyro had already made up his mind and he was not letting Exedra put him down now. He was going to stand his ground until the end.

"I'm where I'm supposed to be!" Spyro said, now facing Exedra, "Go away now and leave me alone!"

If there was anything that would have made Exedra very furious, Spyro was sure that he had said just it. The black dragon snarled as he lunged at Spyro, and for a moment, Spyro thought that he was going to be attacked, but instead, Exedra simply grabbed his horn with one of his paws and tugged it painfully, making Spyro cry out in pain.

"Let's go home, now!" Exedra said, and Spyro could nearly feel the alcohol in the black dragon's breath as his face was dangerously near the purple dragon's. Spyro knew that it was no use reasoning with Exedra, and so, he tried to do the only thing that he could: he pulled and struggled to free himself from the black dragon's grip.

"Let me go!" Spyro said as he tried to get himself free from the grip of the black dragon, but it was useless. Exedra was a hardened retired warrior, and he had already passed by a lot of things in the past and he still exercised nearly every day. As a result, when it came into raw physical strength, Exedra surely surpassed Spyro by a lot. The purple dragon knew that he had more elemental abilities than Exedra, but even after all that had happened, Spyro didn't wanted to use his elements against the black dragon. So, all the purple dragon could do was continue with his useless struggles against Exedra's grip, but the black dragon was clearly stronger than him, and he was soon leading, actually, more like dragging Spyro in direction to the door, and he didn't seemed to be very much caring with the fact that he was nearly breaking Spyro's horn as he dragged him.

"We are going home now!" Exedra said, and Spyro was still struggling. "Stop that!"

"Let me go!" Spyro cried, as he still tried to get himself free from the black dragon's grip, but it was way too strong for him, and he was unable to free himself. "Let me go! Help! Someone help me!"

"Keep quiet!" Exedra said, as if he was scolding Spyro, but the purple dragon only called out louder.

"Someone help me! Apollonir!" Spyro cried, wanting someone to come and fee him from that black dragon, and as on clue, his call for help was answered.

"What is going on here!?" Said Apollonir's voice, which Spyro was deeply grateful that he was hearing. Both he and Exedra stopped their struggle, half-way in direction to the door, and they both looked at him. The red dragon only looked at them, his expression making it clear that he was not liking what he was seeing.

"Apollonir! Help!" Spyro cried, as he was still trying to break free from Exedra's grip, and the black dragon looked at the red one with a look that was nearly one of hate.

"You…" Exedra hissed angrily as he looked at the red dragon. "You are the snake that seduced Spyro… You are the one who tried to take my boy from me!" He practically roared, as he was still holding onto Spyro's horn, who was still trying to free himself.

Apollonir didn't needed to think too much to realize that this one could be no other than Exedra. Of course, he had already heard a little of that black dragon from Spyro, and he even saw Exedra a few times from far. But that was, as you could say, their first "official" meeting.

Apollonir imagined this kind of meeting before, and he always imagined that it would be incredibly awkward, and he even had trained with himself the things that he planned to say to Exedra as soon as they both were face to face and able to have a talk from dragon to dragon. However, by seeing what he was doing, and the way that it seemed to be hurting Spyro as what he was doing, all the plan suddenly flew to away of his mind as he felt himself filled with a sense of disgust and anger towards that black dragon.

"Let Spyro go in this instant!" Apollonir demanded, and Exedra didn't took long before saying.

"I'm taking my son back home!"

"It doesn't seems that he wants to go!"

"I'm his father! His FATHER!" Exedra roared out, as if he wanted to make it utterly and completely clear to the red dragon, "And I will decide what is better for him!"

Apollonir was getting really feed up on what he was hearing, and he was starting to lose his calm. "Let Spyro go in this instant!"

"Or what!? Will you throw a pie in my face?"

Apollonir roared, and shot out a focused ball of flames, which hit Exedra right in the masked face. The black dragon roared as he let go of Spyro's horn, and now he was holding his own head as the flames were not strong enough to cause severe damage, but they were strong enough to make it very uncomfortable to him.

Spyro stumbled back and he watched with wide eyes as Exedra held his face as the flames were still on him. He looked back at Apollonir, who was looking at him, and the red dragon approached him, and he said, "Are you okay?"

Spyro was still speechless at what was happening, and he was only able to give Apollonir a nod, and that was all he had time to do, for they heard a loud roar as Exedra had taken off his mask, half-melted due to the intense heat of the flames in his face, and threw it to the ground.

Now the black dragon's face was at full view for however wanted to look. His face was covered in a mass of scar, some of them looking pretty nasty. They were reminders of the past in which Exedra serve d the army. Many of them came from fights that Exedra had to battle with his life in order to return home. They were the reason why Exedra wore that mask, for most people became uncomfortable at looking at the scars of his face, all one over the other, and usually Exedra did his best to hide them in name of the good composure. However, at the given moment, Exedra didn't gave a damn about composure, or scars, or his mask or whatever else it could be. He only was focused into that blasted dragon who had attacked him.

He looked at Apollonir with the purest and most primal of hates into his face. "He is my son!" Exedra snarled at him, baring his teeth so much that it was almost as if he was trying to make Apollonir see what would cause his demise. "MY SON!" Exedra roared as he jumped in direction to Apollonir, both his teeth and claws bared and ready to fight.

Apollonir, in pure reflex, pushed Spyro out of the way, and he immediately moved to the side, and Exedra flew right pass him and landed on his feet to the ground, reeling slightly as he was panting. The black dragon wasted no time to turn around, and snarl once again at the red dragon, and he opened his mouth, and let out a column of what seemed to be a pure-black colored fire.

This was shadow, Exedra's element. It was like the pure manifestation of darkness in the shape of fire made out of the purest and deepest of shadows. It was said to create burns that would last for all life and that only a bit of it was powerful enough to snuff even the strongest of flames. It was an element that was saw by many with mistrust and with fear, and so, it was treated with the utmost care by all that had ever come in contact with it, for they didn't wanted to end up as victims of the element.

Apollonir had only time to focus and breathe his own flame breaths over the attack that was coming to him. The walls shook slightly, and so did Spyro's very core as he saw darkness and fire clash and struggle for power as the two dragons used their best of their abilities to try and overcome the other, at least into submission.

It ended up that Apollonir's ability with his fire element didn't limited itself only to his cooking. The red dragon had harnessed his fire abilities nearly to their max, and he achieved a level of power that could rival with the most skilled users of the fire into the armies. Sure, it was still far from being able to level with the power of a Guardian, but still, it was something that made him the kind of guy that you didn't wanted to mess with if you didn't wanted to get burned.

And that was exactly what had caught totally Exedra off guard.

He didn't expected the baker to gave such a powerful breath attack. He had always assumed that the lack of use for combat limited him to only use it to cook things, and he was really not expecting for Apollonir to have any actual fighting skill. He was surely not expecting Apollonir to have enough power in his breath weapon so he would be able to clash with power with his shadow breath.

After a few moments of intense fight, both breaths suddenly subsided, as the two dragons stopped to get their breath again. Neither of them seemed to be too tired of using their breath.

"Get out of my house!" Apollonir roared, and Exedra spat back, "Only taking my son with me!"

They both roared, and Exedra once more jumped over Apollonir, but the red dragon once again showed that he was more agile than the black one, and he swiftly moved out of the way. As he did, he grabbed Exedra's front-leg and he made a very swift move as he suddenly threw Exedra over his shoulder, with a judo-like move, making the black dragon land on his back on the ground and reel back before he was able to flip himself back on his feet. He looked shocked at the baker dragon, who only smirked at him.

"What, you thought that only because I stay in the kitchen I don't know how to fight?" Apollonir said, as he got another fighting pose, and Exedra could only snarl at him, as he jumped back at him.

Apollonir was still able to keep up with him. The red dragon had his own fair of self-defense classes, and he was able to care for himself. Also the fact that Exedra was partially drunk, and so, unable to fight with the max of his abilities, also added to Apollonir being able to keep up with him rather efficiently.

Exedra was thrown on his back several times, each one he landed heavily in the ground, and each time, he got up even angrier than before, and this, of course, only added to making him less efficient in battle. He was starting to get really pissed of being thrown around by the red dragon as if he was a ball, and he was getting more and more aggressive in his attacks.

Apollonir now had a little bleeding coming out from the scratches that he had from over his body, made by Exedra's claws and teeth, as he was getting more vicious at each time that he tried to create damage to the red dragon but failed. Spyro looked in horror, and he was, in a lot of times, ready to dive into the fright and help Apollonir out, but the red dragon kept crying for Spyro to "Stay out of that." And he assured Spyro that he was "Going to be okay". So, Spyro limited himself only to look, and horror coated his features at each time that he saw a new wound appear in Apollonir and leak his crimson blood, which blend up with the colors of his scales.

The battle lasted for several minutes, and neither of the dragons seemed ready to give up. Exedra just couldn't accept that this "candy maker" could be better at fighting than him, a ex-member of the army and who had already faced far more threatening foes in battle before. It was just something that he was unable to accept and that he was not going to take lightly. He was not going to go down by his hands, he just wasn't!

Exedra roared as he swiped his paws furiously at Apollonir, now nearly blind with rage as he attacked the red dragon, aiming only to try to make in him the most of damage he could, barely even caring about anything else anymore. He was able to hit a successful attack, hitting Apollonir in the face or the chest, opening gashes into him with his claws, which leaked more blood. Spyro was once again ready to jump in the fight and help Apollonir out. However, as he was ready to do so, Apollonir used his own paws to hold Exedra's as they were travelling in direction to his neck.

Exedra was surprised by this, and he could only look at Apollonir, and this gave the red dragon the chance he needed. The red dragon then moved his head, and he collided his own forehead with Exedra's, giving him a surprisingly powerful headbutt.

The black dragon cried out as he suddenly went to the ground, and he could feel a throbbing pain in his head as he took his paws and held it. It didn't took long until he could feel warm blood leaking down his face, as the hit that Apollonir gave in his head was powerful enough to provoke bleeding.

Apollonir looked down at him, as the strength of the impact had led his own head to bleed, as the crimson blood leaked from his face. He sighed, as his head was throbbing, still, he was able to hold it way better than Exedra was doing, as the black dragon was in the ground, snarling from the pain and trying to get up.

The red dragon than looked at Spyro, who looked at him with wide eyes and a haunted expression. Apollonir cringed, as he knew that the blood leaking over his face, and the hard expression that he was probably showing now, were making him look like someone hard and scary, much different from what Spyro was used to see from him, and much more closer to watch he was probably used to expect from that Exedra guy. Apollonir really didn't wanted Spyro to have this kind of impression of him, specially because it was barely even his first week of being Apollonir's son.

However, Spyro was actually amazed. He always thought of his father as being the kind of guy who could beat anyone at any time, and it made him nervous about the first meeting that he and Apollonir could have, because Spyro was afraid that Exedra could seriously hurt Apollonir. However, the outcome that happened was very different from what Spyro had imagined, for the red dragon was not only able to keep up the fight with Exedra, but he actually seemed almost as if he had virtually won. That was more than enough for Spyro to be utterly amazed, as he never imagined that Apollonir would actually be that good into a real fight. This was only leading him to admire the red dragon even more, both because he just kicked Exedra's sorry tail, and also because he had done that for _him_. To protect him from being taken away by Exedra when he didn't wanted to.

The red dragon walked in his direction, rubbing the blood out of his forehead, as he approached the purple dragon. "Sorry you had to see this." Said Apollonir to Spyro, who only looked back to him in amazement. "This is really not the kind of thing I want you to witness, son."

Exedra was still in pain, however, he was not totally unaware of what was happening around him, and so, he could hear perfectly what Apollonir had just said. And this was enough to make his blood boil as he was finally able to get back up. He was panting, almost snarling as he was getting back up, his face a figure of pure hatred as his eyes burned with hate.

"No…" Exedra hissed as he was getting up, looking at the red dragon, who was getting away from him, with his back in his direction. A _big_ mistake.

"He is my son…" Exedra snarled, as he passed his scythe-like tailblade over the ground, as if he was sharpening it. His tailblade may be made of bone, but the sharpness and the resilient made it be as powerful as a weapon made of iron, and so, it didn't only looked mean, but it also was powerful enough to cut clean off the part of the body of another dragon, or at least make a big deal of damage.

"MY SON!" Exedra roared as he jumped, his tailblade ready for the fatal blow, as he had it aimed directly at Apollonir's neck. The red dragon was caught off guard, so he didn't had time to react as he heard the roar and he heard the sound of something cutting the air in his direction.

However, Spyro saw it coming, and he had time to react.

"NO!" Spyro said, as he jumped with Speed that he didn't knew that he had in direction to the red dragon, who was now barely even moving his head to see what was coming in his direction.

Spyro was able to reach him in time, and move him out of the way. However, as he did it, Spyro had to put himself in the line of the incoming attack, and no one was able to do anything to stop it.

The tip of the tailblade hit. Piercing the skin and sinking deep into the skin. For a moment, it was like the entire scene had frozen.

Apollonir was in the ground, as he was pushed out of the way by Spyro, and he looked up, his eyes widen. Exedra was frozen in the spot, his eyes widen as he focused, and he saw that he had indeed hit something, but it was not the target that he intended.

Spyro was in place, panting slightly, from the sudden rush of adrenaline that had went through his veins, and he could feel something warm in his body, and he could only look, and he saw red. He saw the tip of Exedra's tailblade piercing his shoulder, and it had gone deep. Spyro could barely feel the pain as anything more than a stocking into his flesh, and it was soon turning into a burning feeling that was spreading from his shoulder to the rest of his body. Curiously, despite the pain being intense, Spyro didn't felt like screaming, nor did he thought about reacting or doing anything about it. It was almost like his mind was numb, as if he was still trying to process what was happening, and the fact that there was something piercing his skin, and making his blood leak form out of his wound. And it was leaking a lot.

After a few moments, Exedra finally pulled his tailblade out of the wound that5 he had created, making blood squirt out of it and land in the ground. He could only looked at Spyro, still shocked, as if he had suddenly woke up from some short of dream, and was looking at the purple dragon for the very first time.

"Spyro?" Exedra said, his voice seeming to be confused, and the purple dragon blinked as he looked at him. He tried to talk something back, but as soon as he gave a single step, he suddenly felt himself dizzy. The purple dragon looked back at his shoulder, and he saw that there was a lot of blood coming out of the wound that had been opened by Exedra's attack.

Of course, any wound like that would bleed, but this one was bleeding _a lot_. And the more Spyro looked at that blood, the dizzier he felt, and soon, he was wobbling, as if his legs and suddenly turned into jelly. The pain now was the farthest thing of his mind as he could feel like his vision was starting to blur, and he was feeling himself unable to keep his eyes open. He was feeling so tired all of sudden.

"SPYRO!" The purple dragon barely heard the voice of Apollonir was he was now falling, but he felt himself sudden caught by the arms of someone. He was able to keep his eyes open as he saw Apollonir, his face pale and looking horrified as he looked at the purple dragon, calling his name.

Apollonir looked in horror at Spyro, who was starting to become terrifyingly pale, and he looked at the wound on his shoulder, which was leaking a big amount of blood. There was no doubt that the blade had caught some veins, and some big ones. If he didn't did anything them Spyro would bleed to death in just a few minutes!

He couldn't let it happen! He couldn't let it happen!

Not again!

Apollonir panted in fear, as he knew that he needed to stop the bleeding now, and he could only think of one way of doing so.

Looking at Spyro, who was most unconscious than conscious, Apollonir mouthed to him an "I'm sorry" knowing that the purple dragon would not be conscious enough to answer, or maybe even to understand what Apollonir just said to him, Apollonir put himself to work.

Looking at his own paw, Apollonir closed his eyes and focused, and he breathed a single ball of flames over his own paws. The flames enveloped his claws and they shone slightly in red, orange, before shifting to the pure white of the scorching fire. It last only for a few moments, before the flames slowly subsided, and they left behind Apollonir's paw shining.

It had retained the heat of the flames, and now, the claws were shining in red, almost as if they were hot iron, and it was just as hot to the touch. Apollonir turned his attention back to the purple dragon, who was bleeding in the ground, and the bloopd seemed to grow at each second, and was starting to form a puddle underneath the purple dragon. Apoolonir knew that he didn't had time. He had to do it now!

Approaching the purple dragon's wound with his scorching hot claw, Apollonir put his other claw in Spyro's forehead, and he gently massaged it, to make him relax. "It is gonna be okay." Apollonir said, though it was more to himself than to Spyro. He then approached the hot claws from the wound and, before he could change his own mind, he thrust his claws into the open wound.

A loud hissing sound was heard, along with a gasp of pain, as the purple dragon's body convulsed as the feeling of searing hot pain filled his shoulder and his body, making stars dance in front of his already blurred vision. Apollonir kept his claws there for a few moments, before he finally was able to cauterize the wound enough so the bleeding would stop.

The purple dragon whimpered a little form the pain still in his shoulder, but soon, he was calming, as the burning feeling was passing. Apollonir looked at him as he calmed down, and soon, then purple dragon had a more steady breathing, but it was still labored, and it seemed that the purple dragon was still very pale. Spyro needed help, and he needed it quick.

"Talbain! Kahan!" Apollonir called, looking worried at the purple dragon in the ground, and he looked at the hallways as he was expecting the two he called to come.

While this, Exedra was watching with wide eyes as it seemed that a little of his rational mind was returning to him. He had been standing motionless for a while, and he saw all that Apollonir had done.

"S-Spyro…" He said, and he give a few steps forward, and he said one more time. "Spyro…"

Apollonir noticed his approach, and his immediate reaction was pure rage as he looked at the black dragon and roared to him. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!"

Exedra was surprised, and he took a step back, never before seeing so much range in someone's face besides his own. The red dragon looked at him with the most murderer of looks as he bared his teeth. All his face was a mask of the purest hate, as he seemed ready to bite the black dragon's head off if he gave a single more step.

Exedra only looked at him, and the red dragon only continued to snarl, almost standing over Spyro as if to protect him from another attack. "You still call yourself his father?" Apollonir asked with a tone of pure hatred at him. "You attack and hurt him once you don't get what you want?"

"W-wha- NO! I-it was an accident!" Exedra said, seeming to feel guilty and scared for the first time in a long time. "H-he jumped in the way…"

"Shut up!" Apollonir roared back. "This all happened because you couldn't accept the choices that Spyro made!" His teeth were bared as he spoke that, and he really meant every single word he was saying. He was really considering Exedra responsible for all of that, and the black dragon, for the first time, seemed unable to find any kind of word to give back as an intelligent answer to that.

"Why it is so hard to you accept that Spyro had found something that makes him happy and that he wants to go after it!?" Apollonir asked him, not really expecting an answer, but he was still asking it as if it was a valid question. "Why you can't accept that he found something that he loves and that makes him happy, and that he truly wants it!? That it is his dream!?"

"It is only because it doesn't fit into your own view of what would be a suitable job for a dragon!? Or it is because he only chose something that you don't wanted him to chose!?" Apollonir said, and Exedra was still unable to find the answer to what the red dragon was dumping at him;

"I… I…" The black dragon stammered, now starting to lose the nerve that he had gotten a few minutes ago due to the anger and the alcohol in his blood. Apollonir, on the other paw, was seeming to having a lot to say.

"If Spyro was born my son, and if he wanted to join the army or anything else, I would support him!" Apollonir said, and these words seemed true. "If he had any dream other than following my steps I would give him all the support in the world! I would help him achieve what he wanted, because a father's main goal in life is to see his kids grow in life, and become strong and happy! If joining the army or even becoming a Guardian would make him happy to his fullest, then I would help him do just that in every way I could!"

Exedra only looked at him as he was still speechless, and Apollonir finished. "That is what a true father does! And you! You don't act like a father! Because you are more interested in seeing your son doing what you want instead of doing what makes him truly happy! You are not fit to be his father!"

Exedra gasped. Those words had stung him hard. Harder than anything else could have done if it was pressed against his skin until it pierced. Exedra would have become angry at that, but instead, he could only stare at the red dragon in front at him, standing over Spyro as if to protect him from a dangerous monster. For some reason, Exedra could not feel anger or even insulted by what was being said at him. For some reason another feeling creeped in him, a feeling that made him lower his head as he could feel a sense of deep dread into his heart. He could very well relate it to the alcohol, but he knew in his hear that the feeling was much more than that.

The red dragon only snorted as he turned his attention back to Spyro. The purple dragon still had a labored by troubled breathing, and he was still pale. "Someone come here now!" The red dragon called once more, and soon after, two creatures came to him. One of them was a indigo colored dragon, and the other was a bulky anthropomorphic bear, who looked bulky and able to handle his fight as well as a dragon of the army. They saw the purple dragon under him, the blood still in him, and laying on a puddle of his own blood.

The two immediately recognized the young Spyro, and the bear was the first to answer. "What happened to him!?"

"No time to talk!" Apollonir said with clear urgency, and he immediately added. "Get Spyro to the infirmary now! And bring as much red crystals as you can! Now!"

That was all that was needed to say to the dragon and bear both start to carry the purple dragon away, being very careful as if not to hurt him while he was being transported. As they left, Apollonir was about to go follow them, when he turned around to the black dragon, still with his head low and seeming almost to be lost, as if he had suddenly realized where he was.

"And YOU!" Apollonir roared, startling Exedra and making the black dragon look at him. "You are lucky that now I have to worry about MY son!" He said at him, baring his teeth and making sure that the black dragon could see them, as his eyes still burned with hate. "But don't you think that this is over! Trust me, you don't know what I'm, capable off! Now get out of my house! NOW!"

He finished the last part with a deep roar, that was able to shake Exedra to the very core, a thing that very little things that he had met in the past were able to do. He could only look at the red dragon, who then seemed to lost his patient, and he finally roared. "OUT!"

Exedra flinched one last time, and, in that moment, filled with several kinds of different conflicting emotions, Exedra did something that he never did in his life before: he ran. He simply turned around and started to run away from the problem, as if he was going to save his own life. He barely minded that it was going to hurt his pride. No, it was much worse already. He was barely minding his pride, for he already felt like he was much more hurt than just that. Exedra barely even knew how to describe the way that he was feeling them. All he did was to run, to get away, to go somewhere else. He didn't even know where he could possibly go as he ran past the gates and past the fields that were near the mansion. He just ran.

As he saw Exedra go away, Apollonir could finally let out a very angry snarl that he had been holding back, as well as the wish to jump in Exedra while he was still with his back turned to him and rip out his wings. Apollonir didn't had time to worry about that bastard now, he had to worry about Spyro. And that was exactly what he was going as he was walking in direction to the infirmary, where they had took Spyro to take care of him.

* * *

Spyro was at a feeling of near unconsciousness, he was barely even minding what was going on around him, as he was far too deep in a strange sleep to be able to care about anything right then. He was still deep into a blissful slumber, but he soon was finding himself pulled in direction to the reality, as he felt the throbbing feeling of his shoulder.

Spyro groaned as he took his paw in direction to his shoulder, only to have another paw stop it, and say.

"Easy now, son. Your shoulder still need to heal."

Spyro blinked as he opened his eyes, at the familiar voice. He saw al red blur as he looked in the direction it was, and he blinked his eyes, groaning a little, and finally his vision cleared enough to allow him to see the familiar form of Apollonir Fireheart.

"A-Apollonir." Spyro said, a little drowsy, and he was trying to get up before Apollonir forced him back into the bed gently.

"You lost much blood. We used the life crystals to stabilize you, but they only heal to a certain extend. You still need to rest to recover fully." Apollonir said in a gentle tone, being able to offer Spyo a nice and warm smile. He was just very glad that the purple dragon was okay.

"L-lost blood?" Spyro said, looking slightly confused, "What did…" He tried to say, but he stopped as the memories flashed in his mind like a movie. "Exedra-Gah!" Spyro said as he made a sudden move and immediately took his hand to his wounded shoulder, where Exedra had hit him with his blade.

"Hey! What did I just said about taking it easy?" Apollonir said, sounded slightly annoyed that the purple dragon was not listening to him. He made Spyro lay back on the bed, (not on his wounded shoulder, of course,) and he tried his max to make Spyro relax.

"Exedra…" Spyro insisted, and Apollonir looked at him before speaking.

"I put him out." The red dragon said to him, and his face hardened as he mentioned the black dragon once again. "I made him go away, and I needed a lot of self control not to go after him and make sure that he would not come back."

Spyro looked at Apolllonir. He had chased Exedra off? How did _that_ happened? Exedra never was chased off by anyone! Or at least that was what he had always heard from his old friends from the army and the guard. Spyro could only stare at him in awe, and Apollonir picked up something from the nearby table.

"Drink this." He said, offering the small bowl at Spyro. It was filled with a thick syrup-like substance that had a very strong smell. It made Spyro remember of mushrooms, and it also was so strong that it made the purple dragon want to sneeze.

"What is that?"

"It is a medicine, it will help your shoulder to heal faster." Was all that Apollonir said, and Spyro knew by his tone and by the look that he gave him that Spyro didn't had a choice if he was going to drink it or not.

The red dragon was only worried with him, and wanted what was best for him. Spyro knew it well, that was the job of a father, after all, right?

Spyro took the bowl and guided it to his lips. He hold his breath due to the intense smell, and shoved it down his throat in one go, so it was faster. The syrup only stayed in his tongue for a second or so, but it was more than enough to make Spyro feel the taste that was like a fish that had stayed in the sun for too much time.

Spyro had to keep down his gag-reflex not to breathe in the syrup as it traveled down his throat. Indeed, it was thick and the taste was awful. And it was leaving now an after-taste in Spyro's mouth that made him feel like he would be sick.

Apollonir only looked at the purple dragon, who had suddenly become a few shades greener, and he chuckled a little. "Yeah, the taste is not the best, but it will help with the wound. It is made of a mushroom that has the property of accelerating the natural healing of creatures, I heard it is very effective, even though the taste is said to be horrid.

Spyro coughed a little as he was unable to laugh with Apollonir. "W-water!" Spyro said, and he was soon passed another bowl, this one filled to the brim with clean water, and Spyro took it in heavy gulps, to try to get the taste of that medicine out of his tongue as quick as possible. He even rubbed his tongue all over his mouth, over his teeth and in the roof, as if that was going to help clean up the taste faster and make his tongue feel normal once again.

Man, why does medicine always needs to taste so bad?

As soon as a little of the taste had left his mouth, and he finally was able to talk normally again. "Thank you." Spyro said to him, and he really meant it. "Thank you for standing for me and for protecting me. Seriously, most guys would have ran away from Exedra in fear."

Apollonir smiled, "Yeah, he seemed to be quite the scary guy. I heard a lot of stories about him, also." Apollonir said at him as he spoke that. "But when I saw you in trouble, and asking for help, I could not simply turn around and pretend that I was not seeing, could it?" The question was totally rhetorical, and Spyro could notice it by the way that Apollonir was saying it.

"If you see your son in danger or trouble, you do what you can to help and to save him, right?" Apollonir said, offering him a smile and winking at him. "After all, that is one of the duties of a father." He finished with a smile on his lips.

Spyro looked at him for a few moments, and he moved as if to get up once more. Apollonir was about to push him back into the bed, when Spyro advanced to him, and enveloped the red dragon with both his wings and front-leg, into a tight hug.

"S-Spyro…" Apollonir said, surprised by this, and Spyro only hugged him, as he said, "Thanks dad…"

Apollonir took a few seconds to recover, but as soon as he did, he smiled, and he returned the hug, being extra careful which the wound that Spyro still had in his shoulder, but he hugged the purple dragon just as tight as this one was hugging him. He was indeed liking this close contact, and the warm that passed from one to another.

After a while they finally broke their embrace, and Spyro looked at him, and he asked, "How long have I been out?"

"The whole night." Apollonir said, and he added, It is morning already."

"Shouldn't we be at the bakery?"

"No, I decided that it was more important to get you to feel well first, I sent someone to look over the bakery and make sure that the work would be done." Apollonir said, and he put a paw over Spyro when the purple dragon tried to get off the bed once again. "No sir! You need to recover first, and then you can go back to getting up."

"But, I need to work." Spyro said, not liking to be not able to work, "And I still need to practice for the contest."

"I know, and we will do both of these things once you gets better." Apollonir assured him, and he said, "Your wealth is the priority in here, we can take care of the rest as soon as you are brand new again… And then I'm going to deal with Exedra." Apollonir said the last part with a hint of pure anger as he looked away. Spyro noticed this.

"As soon as you are better I'm going to the authorities and I'll turn him in for attempt of murder. He could have killed you!"

The red dragon seemed to really want it, but Spyro said something that surprised him.

"Dad, I think you should not do this."

Apollonir looked surprised at the purple dragon. Of course that Spyro could not want to protect Exedra what had just happened! However, looking at his face, he saw that the purple dragon was serious about this.

"I just started my new life, and I'm glad that it is without fights and without anger all the time." Spyro said to him, and he continued, "I want it to stay like that. I don't want us to get involved into more fights and more troubles, even because of Exedra Nightwing." Spyro said, and Apollonir could only look at the purple dragon as he continued to talk. "Exedra ruined a good family that I had once because he was a stubborn idiot, I'm not going to let him ruin my new chance of happiness."

Apollonir looked at him, and a part of him knew that Spyro was right in deciding this. Getting involved into a situation where the guard was needed was not a good way of starting off a new family. Still, Apollonir wanted Exedra to pay for almost killing Spyro. However, seeing in Spyro's eyes that the purple dragon really didn't wanted troubles, the red dragon was forced to surrender and do what Spyro was requesting.

Thinking carefully, Spyro was actually right. The best they could do now was to keep moving on with their lives and try to forget about Exedra. They could not let the black dragon have the satisfaction of knowing that he was affecting them so much, and they should move on and continue with their own lives and just forget about him.

So, soon they both were moving their talk in direction to better subjects, like the plans that they had for the contest, and they shared each other's ideas for the recipes that they were going to practice for it. Spyro gave a very good spare of ideas for recipes, the purple dragon may not have the experience of a master baker, but he surely had the refined taste and the intuition to know which ingredients would be the best together. This was only another thing that made the purple dragon a very promising individual into the world of baking, and Apollonir could not help but feel a spark of the purest pride in his chest as such a wonderful dragon like that was calling him "father".

They both talked, and smile, and laughed at all that they were talking, and they both soon were letting the events of the previous night slip away from them, and Exedra Nightwing was becoming only a distant memory to them. They were surely not going to let the black dragon have the satisfaction of knowing that he had made a trouble out for them…

* * *

Exedra was laid in the ground, sprawled as he felt his head pounding, as the hangover hit him with the strength of a thousand bricks. He had been drunk last night, but not enough to forget what had happened.

He had almost killed Spyro.

This feeling of dread still clung to his heart like a leech, and it was squeezing him hard as a cruel hand of iron.

How could that have happened?

How could have everything went so wrong?

Exedra was not able to find the answers for that, and he was unable to even think right as the feeling of the hangover was making it seem that his head was going to explode. All that he knew after that was that he had flew away from that house and into an alley, in which part of the city: he had no idea. But he knew that he was in an alley, and that he had laid in there and spent the night near the trash.

It was part of the reason why Exedra felt like trash, but it was not only that. The true reason was that Exedra had almost taken the life of his own son. The son who he created the best he could with his life ever since he hatched from the purple egg. That was more than enough to make Exedra feel guiltier than he ever remembered feeling in his life. And Exedra had already made some very awful things while he was in the army.

Exedra could only groan to himself as he tried to get up, all the while he remembered the shocked look in Spyro's face, and the things that Apollonir had said to him, and all of them had hit him hard, even more than he had first showed into Fireheart's house.

He didn't knew why his words hit him so hard, but he knew that they did. All that he had heard was still in his mind, as if it had been printed in his brain with hot iron… Gah! Thinking about it was making his head hurt more!

Exedra was barely able to pick himself up, when he heard a familiar voice.

"Exedra?"

The black dragon groaned a little, and he was able to raise his head to look at another dragon who looked down at him.

This dragon had midnight-blue scales all over his body, two big wings with pinchers and his tailblade was shaped just like a scorpion's sting. His eyes were of a deep-red color, even redder than Exedra's, but they had a much gentler look in them. He was wearing a big armor, which showed off that he was a member of the guard. He was familiar to Exedra, as he recognized him as Shock Deathtail, a poison dragon who had been a great friend of Exedra in the army before he retired. Exedra could only look up at him, and the dragon approached him, and he said.

"You look like trash."

Indeed, Exedra had a terrible shape right now. His scarred face was showing without his mask, which had been burned down in the night before, and also, his face had hints of ash as it had been in close contact with fire. He was dirty and he smelled like alcohol and like he had been laying on the trash all night.

Exedra looked up at him, and instead of giving out a sarcastic answer, or even returning with a insult to the poison dragon, as it was usual for them, he simply said, "I _feel_ like trash."

That let the poison dragon slightly worried, as he had never seen Exedra like that. The black dragon almost seemed… depressed.

"Exedra, what happened?" He asked, now dropping the joking and looking at the black dragon in the eyes. Exedra looked back at him, and he said, "I blew everything up…"

* * *

Minutes later, both Shock and Exedra were into the nearby bar. Shock was serving himself of some fresh water and some sheep, while Exedra was served of a big cup of water with sugar, which would help to cure his hangover.

Exedra was taking deep gulps of the sweet mix that was giving to him, as he was slightly shaking, and it was not because of the hangover. Exedra had just explained pretty much everything to Shock, including about the events of the last night.

"Wow… that is pretty hard, man." Shock said, and Exedra only remained silent as he heard that, and Shock said, "But man, I think the Apollonir guy is right about one thing."

Exedra looked at him, and Shock continued, "I mean, I know that you have your opinions, but what is wrong if Spyro wants to make candy? I mean, it makes him happy, right, and that should be enough to make you happy, right?"

Exedra groaned. It was all that he needed: one of his few and oldest friends also telling him that he was an awful father. That was exactly what Exedra needed to hammer the very last nail of his coffin.

"Come one, man, you know that it is truth." Shock said, and he continued, "Look, I understand your worried, but it is Spyro's choice, and it is his life. And he can live it the way he wants, and you can't stop it. He is an adult now, you can't simply tell him to do something and expect that he obeys you in fear of being left without dessert tonight."

"You might be afraid of losing Spyro, but what you are doing will push him away from you forever."

That last phrase stung worse than anything else would be able to. It stung hard because Exedra knew that Shock was right, and he knew that what he was doing was wrong. He knew that he could not try to put bindings in Spyro's life only because he felt scared or worried. He knew that if he continued with that he would make Spyro go away from him forever. And that was something that Exedra didn't wanted.

Exedra could only sigh in defeat, as he let his head drop to the table, and he just let it there, looking sad and defeated.

"What must I do?" Exedra said, really wanting an answer. The black dragon was never the kind who asked to others for directions, as he had always been sure of himself and independent, however, that was one of the rare moments in which Exedra felt vulnerable and weak, and in which he really could use someone else's guidance to find the right path. Exedra loved Spyro. That was the truth, and he didn't wanted to lose him.

He knew that after what had happened last night, due to a serious drinking, his chances of making amends with Spyro were probably blown up, but still, he was wanting to believe that there was a way of fixing things.

Shock sighed, and said, "First of all, you have to let Spyro know that you are sorry."

"How?"

"Talking to him, of course!" Shock said, as if it was obvious, and indeed, it was.

"Spyro will not want to see me." Exedra said, "And after last night, Apollonir will not let me come even close to Spyro."

"Meet him alone, then." Shock offered, and he said, "Let Spyro know that you are sorry for what happened, and that you didn't wanted to hurt him."

"He won't listen to me." Exedra said, "I passed years fighting with him for what he chosen to do, and last night was surely the last straw." Exedra sounded utterly defeated and hopeless as he spoke that. "He wouldn't want to look at my face even if I turned into gold!"

Shock said, at him, and he added, "Yeah, maybe you are right, you have screwed things up pretty bad." Exedra looked up at him, and he said, "But you gotta try, right?"

There was a few moments of silence, and Shock said, "Well, I have a patrol to make now, and I'll be going, but think about what I told you."

He looked at Exedra one last time, and he said, "You and Spyro already were a happy family in the past, and have been for a long time. There is no reason to simply give up on that, right?" He said, and he walked away, leaving Exedra behind, alone in the table with his own thoughts and the cup of water with sugar.


End file.
